


(You Made Me Lose) My Self Control

by slapshots



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU since the show is OFF THE FUCKING RAILS, Coming Out, Growing Up, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Teenage Hormones, a lotta sex, just a lot of good shit i promise, learning to love, teenagers being sluts up in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-03-12 05:12:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13540392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slapshots/pseuds/slapshots
Summary: Now at 17, he was exactly what he was supposed to be: football captain, basketball captain, owner of a sweet ass car, the unequivocally unattainable, charming Reggie Mantle.And he didn’t like boys.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello helloooo, this is my first Riverdale fic so be gentle. Things won't be 100% accurate in accordance with the show so bear with me! Some warnings would be homophobic language in the future, some physical violence, a lot of graphic smut, just teenagers bein sluts up in here. The title pays homage to Self Control by Frank Ocean.

Reggie passed the joint to Moose in the back of the car as they smoked slow, listening to Frank Ocean. He ignored Moose saying, ‘Yo, Frank Ocean’s bi, huh?’, as it had begun a routine thing Moose pointed out every time Frank Ocean came on.

“We know,” Midge said from the front seat, rolling her eyes.

“What? I think it’s cool, you know, that he’s just out as a bi-sexual man, and –“

“Shut up, Moose, you’re killing my high,” Reggie groaned, rubbing his face. Moose shut up and passed the joint back to him. They smoked in silence as Midge texted away and 

Reggie squinted through a high beam as a car pulled up into the parking lot. “Are you fucking kidding me? It’s 2 am, who the fuck –“

Reggie sat up and immediately sunk back down as the doors to the other car opened and shut.

“Yo, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up,” he hissed, pulling Moose down and reclining Midge’s seat without warning.

“You’re being so paranoid right now,” Midge said, reaching into the back and smacking Reggie’s leg.

“Shut the fuck up!” Reggie repeated in a shrill whisper.

The trio fell quiet as there was a thud and a clamber against the other car, followed by what was undoubtedly the rustle of clothing, and a moan.

“I fucking told you! I told you not to park near Fox Forest! Gays up in here, up in each other, all the time!” 

“It’s 2017, Reggie, get over it. We could just go,” Midge pointed out, and Reggie thought about saying yes before Moose interjected.

“And cockblock them? No, we’ll wait.”

Midge shrugged and climbed over into the backseat to make out with Moose, wedged between him and Reggie. Reggie groaned, moving as far away from them as possible, closer to the window. He couldn’t help taking a peek. He inched up until he could see out the window and his breath got caught at the back of his throat. Kevin Keller was choking on some dick.

As the only out student in their entire school, yeah, Reggie had thought about him, but he’d never really noticed him. Not his build, not his sharp jawline, not the curve of his ass and thighs. But all of that was on display, now. Reggie could see his jaw working as he sucked that dick. He could see his calf muscles, his thighs, could see the, uh, tautness, of his ass. Reggie swallowed thickly as Kevin stood up and bent himself over the hood of the car. He closed his eyes when the other guy dipped low to eat him out. He sunk back down in the seat, hearing Kevin’s moaning turn into quiet whimpers, his murmured requests of, ‘fuck me harder, I can take it’.

Reggie jumped into the shower to jerk off the second Midge dropped him off at home and came so hard he almost passed out.

-

Reggie Mantle’s your typical All-American jock. Talented. Handsome. Rich. Mega straight. You don’t even know how straight he is, he’s so straight.

He’s straight from Sunday to Sunday, 24/7! All day, every day!

He’s straight when he’s underneath Josie as she grinds and gyrates on him, working her hips up and down, making him pant and sigh and groan her name against her tits.

He’s straight when he’s between Cheryl’s legs, making her thighs tremble around his head, the sweet taste of her on his tongue.

He’s straight when he’s chasing Betty and Veronica whenever they entertain him, just so he could get under Archie’s skin.

He’s straight, even when he’s double teaming some chick from Southside High with Moose and he can’t focus on his dick in her mouth because he’s busy watching the way Moose’s slides in and out of her, busy liking that Moose is watching him.

But fuck that. He’s straight, because there’s nothing else he can be.

Not even in Mexico when he slips away from his parents and hits up one of the clubs out of the resort, one that doesn’t ID him, one where he can slink away into a dark corner with someone, feel his hardened abs under his hands and stubble on his cheek as they make out.

Not even in Turks and Caicos when he’s underneath a Tinder match whose name he can’t remember for the life of him, and he’s not sure if it’s because he doesn’t give a shit or because his ass is so tight around him, it’s draining him of both his memory _and_ cum.

Not even in the locker room, when Moose is on his knees for him, because Moose is the only one that knows, and he’s _safe_ , and Reggie can get his dick sucked by a guy in the comfort of Riverdale and not worry about it getting out.

Not even when he jerks off and thinks about that Thursday he saw Kevin Keller getting rammed from behind.

And every Thursday after that, because Kevin was a creature of habit, and Reggie was a creep that liked to watch Kevin from afar.

“Kevin and I are thinking about cruising through Greendale over the weekend,” Moose said casually as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and when Reggie looked down at him, a cautious look flashed over his face. “There’s a club that doesn’t ID. If you wanted to come.”

“There are clubs that don’t ID here, why do I need to go to Greendale with you and Keller?” Reggie snorted, tucking himself back in his pants, picking up his shirt off the ground and shrugging it on, buttoning it up. Keeping his eyes from wandering back to Moose. Keeping it cool.

“It’s not like a Riverdale club, you know? It’s – come on, man, it’s for dudes like -.”

“Think fast.” Reggie chucked a football at Moose and it bounced off his stomach, winding him, causing him to double over. Reggie shouldered his duffel bag and tousled Moose’s hair as he walked by, then disappeared through the door.

-

Moose and Kevin have it figured out, Reggie thinks. Moose… has Midge. Understanding Midge, who let him run off to take comfort in a guy or two every now and then. Moose and Midge were goals, basically, and Reggie more than happily third wheeled for them, but watching them made his heart ache and his stomach drop and – well, third wheeling for them never lasted long. Reggie would normally start texting some chick and leave halfway through the movie to get laid.

Reggie thinks that Kevin’s headed out of Riverdale for sure. The tiny town can’t handle his big personality. Reggie thinks Kevin would suit a New York lifestyle. Maybe he’d start off as an intern at some big fashion magazine. Maybe he’d be a freelance writer, or – a stylist, or – some other gay thing. What did Kevin even like doing? What was his thing? Was it, like, theatre? Art? What kind of art?

“Reggie.”

Reggie stared until his eyes focused on Josie standing in front of him and put on a smile.

“What’s up, mama?”

“Do you even check your texts anymore?” She rolled her eyes and sighed as Reggie went through his pockets to get his phone. “Forget it. Scratch has been itched.”

“Aw, what…?” Reggie trailed off as Josie ran her hand over his chest and shoulder, giving him a wink.

“Too slow, daddy,” she whispered in his ear before taking off, her heels echoing loudly through the hallway, her hips swaying in that _look-at-my-ass-but-if-I-catch-you-I’ll-kill-you_ way that Reggie loved so much. He didn’t even know that a sashay of the hips could say so many words. He watched her go, briefly wondering who had fucked her, until his line of vision was blocked.

“Wow. That’s super healthy. What you and Josie have going on,” Kevin clarified with a smile and a nod of his head. Reggie rolled his eyes.

“What do you want, Keller?” he asked, dropping his bag into his locker and shutting it, leaning against it. Kevin was wearing a navy blue cardigan and khaki-colored pants today. He seemed to exclusively wear cardigans and khaki-colored pants. Reggie struck off ‘fashion intern’ on the imaginary list of things Kevin would do in New York.

“Uh, excuse me? You’re the one bleeding your daddy kink all over my locker, _Mantle_. Move.”

Oh.

Reggie moved away from the lockers and Kevin cocked an eyebrow at him before stepping into his space, twisting his dial around until his locker opened. Reggie zeroed in on a hickey at the base of Kevin’s throat. It was kind of pink, kind of red, starting to bruise around the sides, looked real fresh. It made Reggie’s stomach stir.

“Does this offend you?” Kevin asked, his voice dropping into a drawl, and Reggie blinked, looking back up to his face. Kevin self-consciously pulled the collar on his shirt up to hide it.

Reggie turned tail and all but ran to his next class.

-

The following Thursday, Reggie tried to stay away from the woods. He lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, his hand resting on his lower abdomen, just an inch away from his waistband. He played with the trail of hairs there, thinking about Kevin. Kevin and his hickey. He wondered what position Kevin had been in when he got that hickey. Maybe he was on top, straddling the other guy, hands buried in his hair, pressing his mouth harder against his neck. Maybe he was on the bottom, legs wrapped tight around the other guy’s waist, pulling himself up to meet every thrust of his hips, head thrown back, his neck totally exposed.

Fuck.

Reggie’s hand edged into his boxers and he rubbed the base of his cock, closing his eyes.

Think about Josie.

Think about Cheryl.

Think about any chick, honestly.

He did fine thinking about Josie, but when he finally came, he imagined spurting his load out onto Kevin’s face.

-

This wasn’t a new development for Reggie. It wasn’t even an old development. Reggie knew who he was the moment he knew that it wasn’t normal for boys to like pink.  
Reggie liked pink, though. He liked his pink hot wheels cars the best. The hot pink one with the flames on the side and the spoiler, the sleek magenta one that he catapulted off the ramps on his track, the pastel pink-and-purple one that changed colors when he dipped it in hot and cold water.

Reggie liked sports, but he liked talking to Jenny on the tee-ball team. He liked having playdates with Nicole and Katie from basketball. His dad thought he was a regular Casanova at the young age of 6, but really, Reggie just… liked hanging out with girls more. They let him play with their dolls. Reggie wasn’t allowed to have dolls.

And it wasn’t even like, his parents were never hateful towards gay people or the community, but they weren’t supportive of it either. Riverdale Pride was ‘nonsense’. It wasn’t a household topic of discussion. But he knew he was their only child, and his dad was an only child, and someone needed to carry the Mantle name.

Reggie gave away his pink hot wheels before he gave up any of his hot wheels. He dated and lost his virginity to Katie after a basketball game when they were 13, because it seemed like the right thing to do. Then he slept with Nicole, and then Jenny, and all three of them eventually stopped talking to him, and it hurt every time, because he cared about them. Reggie put up walls. More walls than a 14 year old ever should, honestly. He grew up fast, knew his expectations, and was determined to meet every single one of them. Now at 17, he was exactly what he was supposed to be: football captain, basketball captain, owner of a sweet ass car, the unequivocally unattainable, charming Reggie Mantle.

And he didn’t like boys.


	2. Chapter 2

After a while, Reggie started realizing just how much he was around Kevin. How their lives intertwined without them really acknowledging it. They shared locker space. Kevin was in Reggie’s math and English classes. Kevin hung around Archie Andrews’ crew, which Reggie did from time to time. Kevin was always at Pop’s whenever Reggie was.

Maybe Reggie only realized he was around so much because he had started looking for him.

And it wasn’t even in an obsessive way, not really. He just wondered how he, with all the confidence in the world, couldn’t kiss a boy while this Keller kid sauntered around the halls the way he did, with his cardigans and his tight pants and his way too obvious boner in wrestling, and people were… okay with it. How did Kevin do it?

“Reggie.”

Reggie blinked and his eyes focused and he stared back at Kevin, his spoon hovering over his pudding cup as it had been for the last thirty seconds.

“What?”

Kevin furrowed his brows, putting his sandwich down.

“Are you okay?” His hand reached over to touch Reggie’s forearm and a buzz went through Reggie’s body immediately. 

“I’m fine,” Reggie insisted, pulling his arm back. Archie and company chose the perfect time to crash their lunch break, and Reggie took it as his cue to leave. He dumped his tray onto Kevin’s and ran off to find Moose without another word.

“Come here,” he said, grabbing Moose by the wrist and dragging him away from the other varsity boys.

“Reg, what’s up, dude?” Moose asked quietly as Reggie shut the closet door behind them and started taking off his pants.

“Please, man, just –“

“Yeah.”

Moose spat on his hand and wrapped a hand around Reggie’s cock, stroking him slow and steady.

“I’m sorry,” Reggie murmured, sinking back against the wall, his hands coming up to Moose’s shoulders. He closed his eyes and let out a quiet groan, brows furrowed. “More spit.”

“I’ll do you one better,” Moose said with a rumbling laugh, and he got on his knees.

Moose had a fucking mouth on him. He blew Reggie so good that sometimes it made him even wanna kiss him, just to see how good he was at that. Reggie liked getting one hand in his hair and the other curled around his jaw, because he liked feeling the stubble on his chin and on his cheek, liked rubbing his thumb against it. He liked it best when Moose went a while without shaving, so he could feel the beginnings of his beard against his thigh every time he slid his mouth all the way down the length of his cock.

Reggie moaned, low at the back of his throat, and his hips started pumping as he fucked himself down Moose’s throat. Moose opened up his jaw more and dragged his tongue along the underside of Reggie’s dick, looking up at him. Reggie tightened his grip in his hair and let out a shuddering breath as he came, filling up Moose’s mouth, relishing in the way he swallowed him down. Moose always swallowed. Josie and Cheryl never did.

“Are you good?” Moose asked, his voice wrecked, but concern written all over his face, and Reggie pulled his jeans up, nodding his head. “Okay. I’m gonna go find Midge.” Again, Reggie nodded. Moose ruffled Reggie’s hair and pressed his forehead against his before leaving the closet and Reggie sat down on a stack of rolls of toilet paper, staring at the door.

He could date Moose if he wanted to, he thought. He could fall really hard for Moose, with his killer blowjobs and kind eyes. But Moose wasn’t his. If he were his, Reggie could probably kiss him. He could probably reciprocate any of the things Moose does for him.

He can’t, though. Reggie thought that if he did, he could no longer pass his attraction to boys as a _phase_. It would be too permanent.

-

Reggie liked destroying things he couldn’t have control over.

Reggie pulled away from his friends and delved deep into sports and the gym, decided to put all his focus and energy into that nice and shiny scholarship that awaited him senior year. Football season came and went with Riverdale, as usual, so close to the top, but not quite there. Reggie received accolades and was hailed Player of the Year and after the pep rally, found himself on top of Cheryl in the back of his car.

Cheryl didn’t swallow. 

Reggie wondered if Kevin would have.

-

“What’re you doing?”

Reggie looked up from lacing his shoes to see Archie standing there, arms crossed, wide stance. Trying to make himself look big, Reggie thought.

“I’m getting ready for basketball, Andrews, what do you want?” he asked, straightening up and rising to his full height. Archie dropped his arms and Reggie let himself sag a little bit, recognizing when Archie wasn’t there to clash.

“You’ve been a little bit hard to reach these days, man,” Archie said, leaning back against the lockers and Reggie looked Archie up and down in his singlet, letting out a snort.

“You’ve got my number if you need to reach me.” Archie opened his mouth again, but Reggie quickly continued. “Has anyone ever told you that you look like a large banana stuffed inside of another, smaller banana in that thing? I can’t believe you gave up basketball for wrestling.” Reggie rolled his eyes and smacked Archie in the chest before heading out to the gym. “Later.” 

He skidded to a stop when he saw the layout of the gymnasium, and he felt his stomach drop when he saw Kevin rolling out the wrestling mats. Behind him, he could hear Archie exiting the locker room.

“What’s going on?” Reggie asked, putting his hands on his hips, and Archie came up beside him, furrowing his brows.

“The auditorium’s filled with shit for the spring play.”

“Isn’t that in like, three months?”

“Yeah, well, they got a massive head start on it this year.”

“So we’re sharing the gym?”

“Looks that way.”

“Fuck off.”

Fuck. Off.

Reggie watched in horror as Kevin took off his sweater. _He_ didn’t look like a banana shoved into a smaller banana in his singlet. He looked fucking great.

Archie followed his line of vision to Kevin and he looked back at Reggie, his eyes going soft in something that appeared to be understanding. Reggie didn’t like that, but Reggie couldn’t control what Archie saw.

And Reggie liked destroying things he couldn’t control.

His feet moved before his brain could catch up, and his mouth opened before he could stop himself.

“Keller, this should be a fucking _great_ time for you, huh? Double the dudes for you to stare at.” A nasty laugh left him and he hated himself.

“Reggie –“ he could hear Archie begin to say.

“You’re so original, Reggie. And so narcissistic. What makes you think you’re my type?” Kevin responded coolly, and Reggie wasn’t equipped with an answer to his answer. The douchiest thing left him.

“I’m everybody’s type,” he replied. Some guys laughed, some guys oooh’ed, but the worst part was, it started a pile-on of insults and homophobic jokes being flung in Kevin’s direction, and that’s not what Reggie meant to happen.

Kevin quietly let everything hit him, but he stood tall and didn’t cower or run. Reggie locked eyes with him for a few seconds before catching a basketball that somebody threw his way. He rolled the ball around in his hands before turning away and dribbling the ball to the other side of the court.

Reggie heard from Moose after basketball practice. It wasn’t something he could run away from, either – Moose straight up showed up at his house. His mom fucking _loved_ Moose. She said,

“Oh, Reggie is in his room. Reginald! You can head on up, if you’d like! I’ll make dinner.” And Reggie couldn’t even hide the shock or shame on his face when Moose came barrelling in.

“I hate it when you get like this,” he said, cornering Reggie in his bedroom.

“Get like what?” Reggie quipped back as he slunk back into his chair. He stared hard at his chemistry textbook and rewrote the same formula again and again. Moose put his hand on his and took his pencil away.

“You can’t run from this forever, Reg,” he said quietly. Reggie slowly started unraveling and he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against his and Moose’s hands.

“I’m not running, I’m just – biding my time,” he insisted.

“Until when?”

 _Until it goes away_ , is what Reggie didn’t say.

“If everybody could see the Reggie I know, I bet they wouldn’t care,” Moose said gently, and Reggie stood up and punched him in the face.

Moose took it like he always took it, but this time he grabbed Reggie by the front of his shirt and lifted him up and slammed his ass down on top of his work desk.

“Sort your shit out, Reggie. I won’t be here for you forever.”

And Reggie knew that.

“I know that,” he said.

“What’ll you do when I’m gone? Have a perfect little family with the perfect little wife? Have kids with her? Live a lie?”

“I’m seventeen, I don’t need to have this figured out yet.” Reggie sounded helpless, he knew he did. But Moose had him pinned down and, as strong as he was, he could never squirm away from Moose if he didn’t want him to, and Moose wasn’t letting up.

“Kevin didn’t deserve that today, and you know it. You may have some fucked up fascination with him, but he’s my friend, and he’d got no idea what’s going on with you. So lay off of him.”

Silence fell between the two of them and Moose finally let go of Reggie’s shirt.

“My mom’s cooking dinner,” Reggie said.

“Yeah, I know,” Moose said.

“Are you gonna stay?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Okay.”

-

Later that night, Reggie parked in the parking lot outside of Fox Forest. Like clockwork, a car pulled up, and like clockwork, Reggie reclined his seat and watched as Kevin kissed an older man, pressed himself against the car door, let himself be worked open and plowed, moaned and whimpered and came with a shout. Reggie came almost simultaneously with him, making a mess over his hand and his steering wheel.

“Shit,” he muttered, getting tissues and wet wipes out and he started cleaning frantically, when, to his horror, his horn went off. Reggie went silent and still as Kevin and his hook up started scrambling for their clothes.

“No, wait, I know that car,” he heard Kevin say, and he closed his eyes. Shit, shit, shit. There were footsteps that approached which slowed down the closer they got. “…Reggie?”

When Reggie pulled his seat up, Kevin was outside his window, looking at him in shock. His stomach dropped and his chest tightened and panic flooded his body. His hand flew for the keys in the ignition and he started his car and sped away, tears beginning to prick his eyes, threatening to spill over.

Friday morning at school was hell. Reggie tried to fake sick, but his mom and dad weren’t buying it. Moose could tell something was wrong, but Reggie was too embarrassed to tell him about all those Thursday nights spent in a parking lot, jerking off while watching Kevin get some. Any other day, Reggie would be relieved by the lack of Kevin around him, but today, he felt that it was intentional. Reggie would walk through the cafeteria door, and out of the corner of his eye, he’d see Kevin leave. Reggie walked into English class, and Kevin left ‘for spring play purposes’. When Reggie passed by the auditorium, Kevin was there with his head in Betty’s lap, laughing at something she was saying.

Fuck, did he tell anyone?

Reggie grew paranoid. He snapped at anyone that stared at him for too long. He felt like he was losing his mind. When the last bell of the day rang, he made a bee line for the gym and was the first one in the locker room. He immersed himself in the weight room, loud rap drowning everything out, barely even registering the other guys filtering in and out of the room until it was dark out. He took his earbuds out and slowed on the treadmill, looking around to see he was the last one there. He peeled his sweat-covered shirt off and huffed and panted as he walked over to the locker room.

He turned the corner and jumped out of his skin when he saw Kevin coming out of the shower.

“Kevin! Fuck,” he breathed out, clutching his chest and dipping forward. “You scared the shit out of me. I thought everyone was gone.”

“Count on you to think you’re the only one in the world,” Kevin said with a cool smile. Reggie did not stare at the drops of water sticking to Kevin’s chest. Kevin took a step towards him and Reggie turned around to find his locker. He tensed up when he felt Kevin’s hand on his shoulder and he violently ripped his arm away, ducking his shoulder down from Kevin’s touch.

“What?” he asked, backing up, and Kevin frowned.

“Nothing, I just –“

“You what?”

“You just – you look like you needed something.”

“I don’t need anything. I don’t need anything from you.”

Kevin watched Reggie carefully, and Reggie fucking hated it.

“I think you need something,” Kevin said, tilting his head to the side, brows knitted together like he was trying to know Reggie, trying to figure him out.

“Get the fuck away from me. Don’t touch me,” Reggie warned, holding a hand out as Kevin came closer. Kevin placed his hands on Reggie’s chest and shoved him backwards.

“When’re you gonna stop treating people like shit when they try to help?” he asked, and Reggie panicked. He put his hands out and pushed Kevin back, only to have Kevin advance again. “What’re you gonna do, Mantle? You gonna take me down? You gonna do something about it?” Kevin sneered, shoving him again, and Reggie dug his heels into the ground, grabbing Kevin’s wrists, pushing his hands off of him and pinning him hard against the lockers. He stepped back, pulled Kevin off of them, then slammed him into them again.

“I said don’t fucking touch me,” Reggie growled in his face. Kevin ducked his head down and dug his shoulder into Reggie’s chest, forcing him back into the lockers on the opposite side of the room, and Reggie, shocked and winded, gasped as he lost his footing and grabbed at Kevin’s shirt.

Kevin swallowed thickly before licking his lips. Reggie’s eyes flickered down and watched the swirl of his tongue. Kevin licked again and Reggie squirmed underneath him. Kevin leaned forward and bit Reggie’s bottom lip, pulling it between his lips and sucking. 

Reggie finally stopped pretending.

He parted his lips and let Kevin lick into his mouth. Kevin kissed him agonizingly slow, his tongue dragging along his, his lips and teeth catching onto his own lips, sucking, pulling, biting. Wet and slow.

Reggie finally tilted his head back to catch his breath, letting his head fall against the lockers with a hollow thud and he stared at the light fixtures to avoid making eye contact with Kevin.

“I knew it,” Kevin said in a quiet whisper, and he moved in closer, kissing the exposed part of Reggie’s neck, and Reggie let himself give in, just a little bit, his fingers sliding through Kevin's hair before he pressed a hand on his chest, pushing him back.

“Stop,” he said, and he hated the way he sounded when he said it. Strangled and forced, like he didn’t mean it. Like he meant _don’t you fucking dare stop_.

Kevin’s hands wrapped around Reggie’s forearms and squeezed gently, his thumbs rubbing what was meant to be calming circles against his skin, but every touch felt like hot coals and Reggie couldn’t be there anymore.

“I have to go.” He pulled his arms out of Kevin’s grip and slunk around him to grab his gym bag. He ran for the door and pushed through and didn’t look back.

But if he had, he’d have seen Kevin watching him go, which was exactly why he didn’t.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for the love, guys! i'm on a roll! keep commenting, it keeps me going :)

Kevin didn’t tell anyone.

That’s the conclusion Reggie came to, at least, the following week when everything was totally normal. Not even Archie was batting an eyelash when he saw Reggie. He didn’t bring up anything that he had seen, Kevin didn’t bring up their locker room encounter, and Moose didn’t bring up anything they had discussed that Thursday night in his room.

Reggie started thinking, _what the fuck, friends? I’m going through a crisis, here!_

But he was left alone, and he was confused by it.

“Reggie, stop staring at that poor boy.” Moose’s voice cut through Reggie’s thoughts as he stared at Kevin sitting on the bleachers.

“I’m not staring,” Reggie replied, stretching his hammies and quads out, pointedly _not_ staring. He straightened up and walked to the track, puffs of air leaving his mouth visible in the chill of winter. From his place on the bleachers, Kevin turned his entire body towards Reggie. He could feel his eyes on him as he and Moose ran the track. He stumbled over his own feet while concentrating on not looking back and Moose slowed down, watching Reggie pick himself back up.

“Dude,” he said, concerned, and Reggie shook his head, pushing his hand away when he reached down to help him.

“What? I’m fine,” he said, getting back to his feet. He glanced at the bleachers. Kevin had already looked away and was talking to that Fangs kid.

Fuck that Fangs kid.

Reggie wandered back into the school, lost in his own head, and he showered and changed and got ready for the last class of the day. He bumped into Kevin at their lockers and gave him a small smile, received one in return, and was annoyed to find that Kevin was walking in the same direction as him.

Oh, yeah. English class.

Kevin sat down in his seat, and Reggie sat down behind him, taking out his binder and the book they’d been reading. He zoned out the second the lecture began and stared at the back of Kevin’s head as he chewed on the back of his pen. He was brought back when a crumpled up piece of paper landed in front of him, and he looked around, wondering which direction it had come from, before opening the sheet up, the rustling of paper loud in the quiet classroom.

“Do you mind?” Kevin asked, turning to look at Reggie over his shoulder, and Reggie looked up at him, brows furrowed.

“Fuck off,” he said, and Kevin flashed him a mischievous grin before turning back around.

 _I’m coming over, 11pm_.

Reggie turned his head to look at Josie, who didn’t give any hints that it had been from her. Cheryl wasn’t in this class. As much as Reggie wanted it to be, he knew it wouldn’t have been Veronica, who sat beside Kevin and was more into her phone than her book. He balled the paper up again and tossed it in the garbage on his way out the door, casting one more look over his shoulder to try to figure out who it had been from.

Kevin watched the basketball game.

It wasn’t really something that would’ve stood out to anyone, because it wasn’t a typically out of the ordinary thing for him to do. Kevin was rather involved in Riverdale extracurriculars. It just stood out to Reggie because he was Kevin.

It was, hands down, the worst game of basketball Reggie Mantle ever played.

He sat down in the locker room long after everyone else had left, and Coach came in and sat down beside him.

“Are you alright, son?" he asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Reggie nodded his head and slid his hand in his hair, sniffing, nodding again.

“Yeah, coach, just a bad game,” he replied. Coach dropped his hand from Reggie’s shoulder and sighed deeply, leaning back against the lockers.

“Ah, hell. Everyone has bad games. You just know what’s riding on you this year, you know? And you’ve got talent, son. Everyone knows it, everyone sees it.”

“I’ll be better,” Reggie promised. He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but shut it and straightened up when he saw his dad walking in.

“You will be better. Come on, Reginald, your mother’s waiting for us in the car.”

“But I have my car –“ _And it was Thursday_.

“Leave it.” His dad turned on his heel and walked back out and Reggie let out a sharp, frustrated sigh, throwing clothes into his gym bag and switching out his court shoes for his boots. 

-

Dinner was tense. His mother drank wine and his father talked about the car company and all the things Reggie could be doing better in life. Reggie took it all without talking back, without disrespect. He just shut his damn mouth and ate his chicken and broccoli. He dragged his feet up the stairs to his room and plugged in his headphones before sitting himself at his desk, pulling his books out from his bag to start studying. He glanced at his alarm clock beside his bed.

 _8:37_.

He swiveled around in his chair and messed his hair up before swearing and leaning forward to focus on trigonometry. He chewed on the back of his mechanical pencil throughout the homework and, when he was finished, he looked back at the clock.

 _9:15_.

Fuck.

Time was going by so slowly.

Reggie picked up his phone and went through his messages, scrolling up and down the list until his eyes fell on _Kevin Keller_ , last text sent _months_ ago. When he opened it, he closed it and put his phone on the desk, screen facing down, and took out his chemistry homework next.

 _9:25_.

He picked up his phone again and started typing.

why haven’t u said anything yet?

He stared at the text before sending it, then put his phone on silent and set it face down again. He picked his pencil up and went back to work, not picking it back up until he was completely done.

 _9:54_.

about?

Reggie stared at the text waiting for him and he bit on his bottom lip. He didn’t want to say it. He had been tip toeing around Kevin as it was, he wasn’t going to outright _say_ it. No way.

So Reggie stuffed his phone at the bottom of his bag and fished _The Lord of the Flies_ out. He plopped himself down on his bed and forgot all about it. Sometime later, he heard his parents’ bedroom door close. Almost immediately after, he heard a car pull up.

Curious, Reggie bookmarked his page and went to his window, pulling the curtain back. Kevin got out of the car and looked up at him, waving him down.

_What the fuck?_

Kevin waved his hand again, frantically this time, trying to get Reggie out of the house. After shaking his head for ten consecutive seconds, Reggie finally rolled his eyes and shut his curtain before pulling some socks on. He padded through the house quietly and tip toed down the stairs before getting to the door. He shrugged his jacket on and closed the door quietly behind him before walking around the back to the car port.

“What are you doing?” he asked, and Kevin gave him a weird look.

“I told you I was coming by,” he said. “At 11?”

Oh. The note.

“You didn’t know it was from me, did you?” Kevin started laughing and Reggie pulled his jacket tighter around himself.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out, I guess,” Kevin said, hands in his pockets. Reggie snorted and turned his back on Kevin, starting to walk back to the house. “Reggie,” Kevin tried again. “Look, I’m not here for any other reason. I think maybe you just need someone to talk to.”

“At 11 at night? This was a fucking booty call, Keller. I’m not into it.”

“But you’d be into it if the note were from someone else?” 

Reggie stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. He marched back up to Kevin and pushed him back.

“Don’t pretend you know anything about me. You don’t know a thing,” he snapped.

“I know as of last Thursday that you’ve been watching me. Almost every single Thursday. For the last several weeks,” Kevin said icily, and Reggie’s eyes went wide. He took a step back, and Kevin took a step forward. “Reggie. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

“I’m not going through anything.”

“You’re curious, and that’s cool.”

“I know everything I need to know.”

And then Kevin’s lips were pressed against his, and Reggie froze, staring right at Kevin’s closed eyelids not two inches away from him. He didn’t respond, but he didn’t pull back, and when Kevin did, he let out the breath he’d been holding. He wet his lips with his tongue and his eyes darted to Kevin’s, then back up to meet his eyes.

“Yeah?” Kevin asked, taking another cautious step forward, and Reggie didn’t say a thing, but his hand twitched and he almost made a motion to reach out for Kevin, but he didn’t need to. Kevin closed the distance between them again, his plush lips finding Reggie’s, warm and soft in the cold winter night.

Reggie finally moved. One of his hands, shaky and unsure, rested on Kevin’s waist, and the other one slid up his cheek, curled over his jaw. His thumb brushed over the stubble along his jawline and he broke the kiss, pink in the face. He touched Kevin’s chin with the pad of his thumb and moved it up to trace along his bottom lip. Kevin pressed a kiss against it before parting his lips and wrapping them around Reggie’s thumb, sucking on it while locking eyes with him from under his long lashes.

“Wait, no, stop,” Reggie breathed out, taking a giant step back, keeping his hands firmly at his sides. “You need – you need to go. _Please_ ,” he added, with feeling, when Kevin didn’t seem to budge.

Kevin slowly went back to his car and opened the door, but before he got in, he looked back at Reggie.

“Are you going to watch me tonight?” he asked curiously, cocking his head to the side, and Reggie couldn’t even look at him.

“I – no.”

Kevin let out a sound that seemed like disappointment. He got into his car and drove away and Reggie stood in the cold, feeling empty and helpless as he watched him go.

-

It was what he wanted, though. He wanted Kevin to leave him alone.

That’s what he told himself, anyway, when he arrived at school the following day, and everything had gone back to normal. Kevin offered him a smile at their lockers, but didn’t say much, and Reggie found himself wanting him so badly. Just drag him by the arm to the closest dark corner or empty classroom and have him, over and over again.

Kevin wasn’t Moose, though. Kevin wasn’t safe. Kevin was something else altogether.

As Reggie walked by him in English class at the end of the day, he caught sight of a hickey peeking out from under his collar and he felt his stomach stir, felt warm. Felt like he wished he had been the one to mark him up like that.

Kevin made Reggie feel like his insides were on fire and he had no way of putting it out.

At the end of the day, Reggie’s feet brought him to the auditorium. He pushed through and watched the theater kids run lines while the stage crew worked on set designs and backdrops. He scanned the groups for Kevin and, when he didn’t see him, he turned around, only to bump right into him.

“Hey,” Kevin said, startled, and Reggie blinked.

“Uh, hi.”

“Are… you lost? Or what?”

“Uh, no.” They stared at each other for a few more seconds and Kevin took his headset off to make it obvious that his attention was on Reggie, waiting patiently for him to say something. “I just – I needed to tell you something.”

“Okay,” Kevin said slowly.

“I’m straight, so,” Reggie said, “um, you can’t… do that.”

Kevin deserved a medal for his patience, honestly.

“Okay,” he said again. “Are you done? I’m kind of in the middle of putting this thing together.” He walked off, pulling his headset back on, and Reggie closed his eyes.

He was so screwed.

Imagine his surprise at 11pm that night when he heard a car pull up in the back. He looked out his window to see Kevin getting out, and he pulled on his socks and shoes and jacket and stalked on outside.

“You’re _straight_? You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Kevin asked, the corners of his eyes crinkling up as he laughed and smiled. “I _know_ that had to be code for, oh Kevin, come back and kiss me.”

“Shut up,” Reggie hissed, pulling him away from the lights of his house and on the opposite side of his car. “I mean it, man, you can’t just keep – you can’t do this, okay?”

That’s what Reggie would’ve said, anyway, if Kevin’s mouth hadn’t covered his.

Reggie responded. He parted his lips and his tongue swirled around Kevin’s, his hands slid up his chest, twisting into the fabric of his shirt. Kevin’s hands curled around Reggie’s neck and up into his hair as his arms wrapped around him, kissing him fervently, and Reggie let out a quiet moan into his mouth. He pressed Kevin back against his car, kissing desperately, all tongue and teeth and bites and licks. He was coming apart at the seams and Kevin was pulling at every loose thread, taking him apart with his mouth and his tongue, his calloused hands scratching at Reggie’s skin as they found their way up the front of his shirt.

Kevin’s hands dragged up and down Reggie’s abs until they dropped lower to his jeans and Reggie leaned back, frantically pushing at the waistband of them before they were ready to come off.

“What do you want?” Kevin asked, breaking the kiss, and he looked up at Reggie, his hand down his boxers, hand wrapped around the base of his cock while his fingers pressed against his balls.

It was already the best handjob of Reggie’s fucking life.

“Whatever you’ll give me,” Reggie replied, hating the way his voice sounded. Raw. Needy.

Kevin loved it, though. He smiled in a not unkind way, and he leaned up for another kiss before he unlocked his car and pushed Reggie back into it. He pulled on his jeans and boxers until they came down and his cock sprung up.

“Damn, Mantle, I always imagined you to have a thick cock,” Kevin murmured with a mischievous smile, his lips pressing against the shaft as he spoke, and Reggie swallowed, pushing himself up so he could see. Kevin wrapped his lips around the head and teased him, sucking lightly, swirling his tongue around, then he swallowed him down inch by inch.

“Mm, fuck,” Reggie breathed out, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, and he let himself lay back completely on the car seat.

Kevin bobbed his head up and down and twisted his hand around the base. His mouth was warm and wet and Reggie could feel all his spit collecting around his hand, could feel it dripping down his balls. When he sat back up, Kevin had his cock out of his mouth but was jerking him off as he tongued and sucked on his nuts, looking up at him from under his lashes, eyes dark and determined and so fucking hot.

“I wanna taste your cum, Reg. Are you gonna give it to me?” he asked in a low, sultry voice that Reggie had never heard before.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he let out, his eyes fluttering shut as he let himself get lost in the sensation that was Kevin’s mouth when he took him back down his throat. He came not five seconds later, biting his moan back so hard that his bottom lip began to bleed, and he kept his eyes closed, breathing hard, listening to Kevin swallowing and licking him up. He felt Kevin’s lips on his neck and he slid his hand through his hair, not thinking twice as he pulled his head up and let him kiss him.

Kevin licked the blood from his bottom lip before sucking on it and Reggie realized that Kevin was hard. He clumsily got Kevin’s pants down and wrapped a hand around him, letting him use his hand to get off, rutting against it. After a few minutes, Kevin went still and came all over Reggie’s hand and lower stomach with a quiet grunt, then he leaned down and licked all of that up, too.

That was the moment that Reggie realized that Kevin was like, super gay.

And he was, too.

After laying still for a minute to collect himself, relishing in the feeling of Kevin’s lips on his neck and collarbone, the feel of his stubble on his skin, Reggie finally gently pushed him back and sat up. He pulled his jeans on and stood from the car, looking back at his house as Kevin looked up at him.

“This time next week?” he asked, cheeks rosy, eyes wide and earnest, like he wasn’t just sucking Reggie dry ten minutes ago. Reggie couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and kissed him, one hand under his jaw, feeling that stubble and loving every second of it, then he pulled back and walked back to the house, got in bed, and listened to the sound of the car starting and driving away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some offensive language and asshole!jughead ayyy

Reggie ignored him for weeks.

There was a reason that all his gay hook ups occurred on vacations far away from Riverdale, save for Moose. But Kevin was around him, day in, day out, five to six days out of the week, before school, during, and after school, hang outs at Pop’s – Reggie couldn’t get away from him. 

Their next encounter was a disaster.

Jughead was monologuing about the latest conspiracy theory against the Serpents that plagued his mind as Reggie walked into Pop’s, scanning the diner. His eyes fell on Kevin, with Jughead, Veronica, Archie, and Betty, and he sighed and walked up to them.

“You guys seen Moose?” he asked, speaking over Jughead, and the whole group glanced at him before bringing their attention back to Jughead. Kevin included. Reggie waited for Jughead to finish his bullshit before speaking up again. “Hey, that’s great, you’re finally getting in with the trailer trash you were meant to get in with. Where’s Moose?”

“Dude,” Archie said, brows furrowing.

“Um, rude,” Veronica said.

“Reggie, you can’t just talk to people like that,” Betty said.

Jughead just gave him the middle finger, which Reggie appreciated more than any of the other comments, and Kevin just looked up at him and sighed.

“He said something about going somewhere with Midge. Do you need him?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, and – what the fuck did _that_ mean? “Maybe I can help,” Kevin said, starting to stand up, and Reggie flinched and backed away from the table.

“No, Keller, fuck off, faggot,” he said, all too quickly, and the other four gave him a weird look. Kevin looked unperturbed as he sat back down, too calm, too fucking understanding. Oh, well, he’d come this far. Why not take it further? “I don’t need your fairy ass getting pixie dust all on me.”

Kevin’s brows rose again and he pursed his lips, nodding his head.

“Wow, two insults for the price of one.”

“I think you should leave,” Archie said, starting to stand up, and Reggie stood taller, puffing his chest out.

“It’s fine, Arch, really,” Kevin said as he stirred his milkshake. “Clearly Reggie’s just got some insecurities he hasn’t quite hashed out for himself. Daddy issues, mommy issues, maybe both.” Kevin lifted his straw and started to lick up the length of it. Reggie reached out and smacked the milkshake down, getting it all over the table, and Archie and Jughead stood up and practically lunged for him. The three of them went down in a tumble and Reggie pulled on shirts and shoved at faces, kicking his legs up to squirm away from them. He felt himself getting dragged out of the pile and he kicked his legs out again, out of instinct, and opened his eyes to see Moose.

“I can’t leave you alone for a couple hours, can I?” he asked, lending him a hand. Reggie stared at him and reached for the hand that was offered, getting helped up to his feet.

“No,” he said truthfully. Moose inspected Reggie’s cut lip, who turned his head away and his eyes fell on Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and Kevin, who were all watching them. Reggie felt a sense of dread wash over him and he pushed Moose’s hand away. “Let’s just go.”

“Don’t stop on account of us,” Jughead said with a slight sneer. “I think I see what’s going on here.”

“Jughead, stop,” Reggie heard Kevin say. “Get back here.”

Reggie turned around and Jughead was right in his face.

“Popular athlete bullying the gay kid, and yet, the athlete’s got some gayisms going on himself. Real original, Reg. Having trouble coming out of the closet?”

“Fuck. Off,” Reggie said, the strength behind his tone the total opposite of the feeling of fight or flight that was unfurling in his stomach and chest.

“Little Reggie can’t come to terms with his sexuality?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Jones, and you’ve got three seconds to get the fuck out of my face.”

“Such a typical trope, dude, there’re closeted gay high school athletes everywhere. You’re nothing special.”

Reggie’s fists curled up at his sides.

“It’s so fucking sad that you’re so unhappy in your situation that you take it out on others that had the balls to be who they wanted to be.”

“Jughead, that’s enough!” Kevin snapped, and when Jughead turned to look at Kevin, Reggie wound his arm back and punched him right across the face.

Archie flung himself out to grab onto Jughead and Moose’s hands gripped around him and lifted him up over his shoulder, carrying him out of Pop’s as he kicked and screamed threats and obscenities. He fell quiet the second the door shut and he went limp over Moose’s shoulder, staring at the ground once he was set down on the trunk of his car.

“You need to fucking cool it,” Moose hissed, grabbing the front of Reggie’s shirt and pushing him back. Reggie took it so easily that Moose’s face softened and he sighed.

Moose had never seen Reggie look so defeated.

“Come out to Greendale with me and Kevin this weekend,” he said, leaning back against the car, and Reggie shook his head. “Why not?”

“I have a date with Josie,” he said, sniffing and trying to look natural as he wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands, then he winced and looked down at his bruised knuckles. “I’m going home. Later.”

He was unsteady on his feet as he hopped off of the car, but Moose watched him go.

Reggie came home to his mother and father arguing about the summer charity event the Mantles were hosting at the end of the school year, and he tried to slink past them unnoticed.

“Reginald,” his mother said, just as he got to the staircase, and he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Mom.” He went over to her and kissed her cheek before shaking hands with his dad.

“We do still want Josie to perform for the fundraiser. Have you asked her yet?” his dad asked.

“No. I see her this weekend, though, I can ask her then. I have a lot of homework to do,” Reggie added, pointing at his mostly empty backpack, and he hurried away and went up the stairs by 2’s.

He tossed his bag onto his desk and crawled into bed and he finally let himself sink into the dread that had been building up inside of him. His eyes welled up as he curled up onto his side, pulling his blanket around him, and he turned his face against his pillow.

He woke up in the middle of the night to his phone vibrating in his pocket and he slowly came to, reaching for it. He squinted at the bright screen in the dark room and answered.

“Kevin,” he said, his voice thick with sleep.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s late. Can I come in?”

“Fuck no, you can’t. I’ll be out in a second.” Reggie heard Kevin huff out a laugh before he hung up and got out of bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his puffy, red eyes and put on his shoes before heading out to the back.

“You look like shit,” Kevin commented, hands in his pocket, leaning back against his car, and Reggie smiled for the sake of smiling, no real emotion behind it. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m okay.”

“Okay.”

Reggie crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the clear sky, then around at the surrounding forest.

“Come here,” Kevin said after several beats of silence.

“I’m good,” Reggie said.

“Then what’re you still doing out here?”

Reggie hesitated before taking a few steps closer, peering into his car like he was expecting Jughead to jump out and shank him with a knife. Kevin laughed at him, but Reggie wasn’t offended by it. “Nobody’s here with me, Reg, just come here.” He reached for Reggie’s hand and laced their fingers together. He let Kevin pull him closer and closed his eyes when he saw him lean forward, and suddenly, the thick, sticky, gross feeling that had been eating away at Reggie all afternoon was gone.

He returned the kiss, the softest kiss he’d ever gotten, their hands loosely entwined at their sides. His chest tightened up in a way he’d never experienced before and he pulled back like he’d been shocked.

“What’s wrong?” Kevin immediately asked, looking around cautiously, like maybe Reggie had spotted someone, like maybe they were caught. And the fact that Kevin was so concerned for him and had so much respect for him made Reggie pull him back and kiss him deeply, his arms tight around his waist, warmth flooding through him.

“Come up,” he breathed against Kevin’s lips, and Kevin leaned back, looking up at him.

“I don’t wanna get you in trouble, maybe you should just come over.” Kevin nipped and bit at Reggie’s neck, his lips soft and warm against his skin.

“We’ll be quiet,” Reggie insisted, and he grabbed Kevin’s hand and led him back to the house. They kicked their shoes off and Kevin picked his up and they padded through the house and up the stairs. Kevin threw his shoes on the floor beside Reggie’s bed and pushed Reggie back onto it, straddling him and kissing him hungrily. Reggie’s hands slid up the back of his shirt, sighing against his mouth as he explored over his bare skin, and dragged his hands down his sides to grip onto the hem of his shirt, pulling it up.

Kevin was built. He paid attention to his body and kept it tight, and Reggie appreciated that. His hands ran over his abs and his taut oblique, staring down at his body, experiencing it for the first time.

“Wrestling did me good, huh?” Kevin asked in a whisper, giving Reggie a mischievous grin as his hands ran through his hair. Reggie didn’t say anything, he just kissed and mouthed at his pecs and up to his neck.

Kevin rocked against him, grinding their hips together as he rolled his head back to give Reggie all the space he needed to do anything he wanted, and Reggie took everything he could.

He panted as Kevin went down on him, pushing himself up on his elbows, watching Kevin and his fucking mouth working his cock, his cheeks hollow as he bobbed up and down, lips tight around it. Kevin’s eyes closed as he concentrated on taking him deep, his throat closing around the head of Reggie’s dick as he swallowed, gagged, and pulled off.

“That’s so fucking good. You’re so fucking good at that,” Reggie breathed out, reaching for him, and Kevin went easy, smiling as Reggie’s mouth found his, his hand curling around his cock. Kevin jerked him off as they kissed, his tongue fucking into his mouth in a truly obscene way.

“I wish you could fuck me,” Kevin breathed out as he pulled away, “but I’d wanna be loud, make sure you knew just how good you were pounding me.” Reggie’s mind blanked as Kevin went on and on. “I bet you’re gonna be the best fuck I’ve ever had, with your thick cock and hot body and these perfect lips.” He trailed off as he curled his other hand under Reggie’s chin, kissing him and sucking on his bottom lip, pulling at it with his teeth.

Reggie made quick work of Kevin’s briefs, pushing them down and immediately wrapping his hand around him. He broke the kiss to reach for the lube, coating Kevin’s cock with it and pressed his face against Kevin’s chest, kissing his hot, flushed skin. Reggie came first, muffling his moan against him, and Kevin pushed Reggie onto his back, holding him down by his chest, sliding his length in and out of Reggie’s grip and working his hips like he was riding his cock.

Kevin was filthy, and Reggie couldn’t wait to fuck him.

-

Reggie stirred awake to the sound of his dad’s car out front starting and pulling away. He pushed himself up in bed and looked down at Kevin sleeping soundly beside him, his neck and collarbone littered with bite marks and hickeys. His chest swelled as he stared, covering all of himself with his blanket but his eyes, tucking this memory away for himself for later.

_Did he have a crush on Kevin Keller?_

Kevin’s eyes fluttered open as he woke up, squinty and sleepy as his eyes fell on Reggie. Reggie breathed out and looked back at him, his eyes crinkling up at the sides as he smiled, and Kevin smiled back.

_Very possibly._

“I was so looking forward to your abs being the first thing I saw when I woke up. Why’re you covering yourself up?” Kevin half mumbled, half spoke, reaching for Reggie and tugging on the blanket.

“It’s cold,” he whined, but he let Kevin pull it down anyway. Kevin slunk in closer with a sly smile and Reggie gave him one back, lifting his arm, letting Kevin nestle in against him.

“You always smell so good.” Kevin started kissing at his neck, under his chin, over his Adam’s apple. “And quiet. You’re always so quiet when we’re alone together.” 

“Most of the things that leave my mouth around you are insults. I don’t know what to say to you when we’re together,” Reggie admitted, and Kevin huffed out a laugh.

“It’s whatever. You’ll figure it out,” Kevin said, closing his eyes and resting his head on Reggie’s chest. “Never took you for a cuddler, though, Mantle.”

Reggie had so many questions that he couldn’t bring himself to voice. Why was he being so nice to him? Why did he put up with his bullshit? He kept his mouth shut, though, and chose to revel in Kevin’s warmth and the light scratch of his stubble against his skin every time Kevin spoke.

“Reggie,” Kevin said after a few minutes of not speaking.

“Hm,” Reggie hummed back, staring at his ceiling.

“We have class in like, twenty minutes.”

Kevin burst out laughing as Reggie threw him off the bed in a mad scramble and they got dressed and hurried out the door.

“You look like you’ve been attacked by a fucking octopus,” Reggie said, grabbing Kevin’s hand as he turned toward his car and pulled the collar of his sweater up.

“Learn where to hide the hickeys, you fucking asshole,” Kevin laughed, smacking his arm. Reggie smiled, looking at him for a few seconds before leaning in and kissing him. Kevin leaned back with a grin, pulling his arm out of Reggie’s grasp. “I’ll see you at school,” he said, and Reggie nodded his head, his heart threatening to pound right out of his chest.

“Okay.”


	5. Chapter 5

Reggie liked marking Kevin up.

It made him feel like he was his, even if he wasn’t. He liked watching Kevin interact with people the day after they fuck around, pulling his collar up subconsciously, shooting Reggie side glances as they passed each other in the hallways. Sometimes Kevin would pull Reggie out of History class for made up reasons (“Sorry to interrupt, but Reggie’s needed in the weight room for an assessment.”) and they’d end up in the back of Reggie’s car down the street from the school, making out hot and heavy, their cocks sliding alongside each other as they rut and grind to get off.

Kevin always left with at least one hickey.

“Do you have a thing for hickeys, or something?” he asked Reggie as he spread out on his bed, stretching out after a particularly long session. “I seriously look like a leper. This is ridiculous.”

“It’s a good look on you,” Reggie replied, rolling onto his stomach and looking up at him with a smile.

“You can put them somewhere else.”

Reggie lifted himself up to hover over him, furrowing his brows.

“You don’t like them?”

“It’s just getting out of hand. They’re so noticeable.” Kevin watched Reggie’s face fall slightly before his default steely look took over. Reggie pushed himself up and disappeared into his bathroom. “Are you mad because I don’t wanna do the walk of shame all day?” Kevin asked in a monotonous voice, rolling his eyes.

“No,” came Reggie’s curt reply before he started brushing his teeth.

“I said you can put them somewhere else.” 

There was silence as Reggie continued to brush.

“You can put them on my chest. On my hips. My ass.” Kevin slunk out of bed and followed Reggie to the bathroom, getting on his knees and biting Reggie’s sharp hip bone. “Hey.” When Reggie finally looked down at him, Kevin started sucking and tonguing over Reggie’s hip, looking up at him under lashed eyes. “I like them. Just tone it down. Put them somewhere less obvious. I don’t like being asked questions about who I’m hooking up with.” When Reggie diverted his eyes back to the vanity mirror to wordlessly finish brushing his teeth, Kevin took hold of his cock and wrapped his mouth around him.

-

Reggie rolled up to the school with his bag slung over his shoulder, hair perfect, t-shirt tight against his body, looking all kinds of good, and he knew he looked good. He smiled at a group of sophomores and winked at Josie as he took his sunglasses off and sauntered into the building.

He was wholly expecting Kevin at the lockers, but he wasn’t expecting Fangs hanging off of him.

“Keller, Fogarty,” he said after a few beats of silence, and Kevin looked at Reggie before shrugging Fangs off slightly.

“Hey, Mantle,” Fangs said, eyeing him up and down, the corners of his mouth turned up in a smirk. “Looking good. I’ll see you in the auditorium,” he added, speaking _way_ too close to Kevin’s ear, and Reggie could swear he saw a little butt tap action going on there.

He was a football player.

He could always tell when there was butt tapping action.

Fangs walked away and Reggie opened his locker a little bit more aggressively than he meant to, slamming his knuckles between locker doors.

“Mother fuck,” he hissed, and Kevin instinctively reached out for Reggie’s hand and looked at the quickly bruising knuckles.

“Reg, be careful,” he said, furrowing his brows, running his thumbs over the back of his hand to soothe it. 

“What’s going on in the auditorium?” Reggie asked, sniffing as he pulled his hand back, and he used his other one to start emptying his bag into his locker and grabbed his biology binder and textbook.

“Final rehearsals for the play. You’ll see it?” Kevin leaned against his locker, looking up at Reggie.

“Maybe,” he said, closing his locker. “I’ll see you in math class.” When he turned around, Moose was standing there staring at the both of them like they had two heads each.

“Hi,” Kevin said, giving a wave before leaving, and Moose cocked an eyebrow at Reggie.

“What?” Reggie grumbled, grabbing Moose’s forearm and dragging him down the hall towards bio.

“At least now I know why I haven’t been seeing you much lately,” Moose muttered under his breath, grinning, and Reggie frowned.

“I just hurt my hand. He was looking at it.”

“Ah huh.”

“Look at it.” Reggie held up his injured hand. “Spring football is next week, what’ll I do?”

“I would certainly be against jerking Kevin off, like, aggressively? So take it easy.”

“ _Moose_.” 

“Ah huh.” Reggie made a face and went to shove Moose, but Moose hooked his arm around his shoulders and pulled him tight against his side, pressing his cheek against the top of his head. Reggie tensed, then loosened up and let Moose hug him. “Say you’ll come out with us this weekend.”

“I can’t,” Reggie sighed, pulling away.

“I won’t stop asking until you do it.”

Reggie’s phone buzzed and he glance at it.

**_kevin keller_**  
You do look good, by the way. xx

-

Moose really didn’t stop asking.

So Reggie finally said yes.

-  
They were going to the final showing of the school play, then afterwards, were piling into Moose’s car to head out to Greendale. Reggie was antsy because he hadn’t seen Kevin since the school musical began showing. He was also nervous about being recognized in Greendale. He checked and changed his outfit several times before he settled on his classic blue jeans, white shirt, and bikers’ jacket, then he did his hair, washed the product out, and then did it again. He frowned at himself in the mirror. He went to change again, but Moose came barrelling in through his bedroom door before he could even shrug his jacket off.

“You’re ready! Sick, let’s go!” And before Reggie could do or say much else, he was scrambling to grab his phone, wallet, and keys as Moose dragged him out of the room. Reggie barely got to shout his goodbyes to his parents and Moose finally let him go once they were out by his car. “Are you freaking out right now?”

_Yes._

“No,” Reggie said stiffly, walking to the other side of the car.

“I think you’ll like the play,” Moose said keenly. “Have you ever seen A Chorus Line?”

“Do I look like I’ve seen A Chorus Line?”

“I think you’ll like it,” Moose repeated as he started the car. “I think you’ll like Kevin. He’s been working so hard.”

“Yeah?” Reggie stared at his phone as he texted Josie, trying to make plans after the play to get out of going out.

“He’s really something. I think you’ll like him.”

“Shut up, Moose.”

-

Reggie thought A Chorus Line was stupid and boring and there was too much singing to music that was totally irrelevant to his current time period. He chose to watch Kevin for the majority of the show, his elbow perched on the arm rest between him and Moose, his chin propped up on his hand. The songs were a whole lot of group ensembles and there was _so_ much dancing. Reggie could barely keep up. But then Kevin came up onto the stage by himself with Fangs, who played the musical director, and he straightened up from his slump.

_“From seeing all those movie musicals, I used to dance around on the street, and I’d get caught all the time. God, it was embarrassing. I was always being Cyd Charisse… always. Which I don’t really understand, because I always wanted to be an actor. I mean, I really wanted to perform. Once my cousin said to me, ‘you’ll never be an actor’ and I knew she was telling me this because I was such a sissy. I mean, I was terribly effeminate. I always knew I was gay, but that didn’t bother me. What bothered me was that I didn’t know how to be a boy.”_

Reggie shifted in his seat and Moose glanced at him, so he stayed as still as possible. Kevin walked down to stage left, looking out towards the audience.

_“One day, I looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘you’re fourteen years old and you’re a faggot. What are you going to do with your life?’”_

“Are they even allowed to say that on stage?” Reggie whispered tersely, and Moose gave him a look.

“You say it, like, twice a week.” Reggie fell quiet again as Kevin continued what appeared to be a monologue.

_“I liked school. But my grades got so bad. Even if I knew the answers to questions, I wouldn't raise my hand because I would be afraid they would laugh at me. They'd even whistle at me in the halls. It was awful ... just awful. Finally, I went down to the Principal's office and said, ‘I'm a homosexual.’ Well, it was a Catholic high school at around nineteen sixty-two and at the age of fifteen you just didn't say that. He said, ‘Would you like to see a psychologist?’ And I did. And he said, ‘I think you're very well-adjusted for your age and I think you should quit school.’ So, I did. But I didn't really want to. I couldn’t take it anymore._

_See, when I quit school, what I was doing was trying to find out who I was and how to be a man. You know, there are a lot of people in this world who don't know how to be men. And since then, I found out that I am one. I was looking for the wrong thing. I was trying to learn how to be butch. Anyway, I started hanging around Seventy-Second Street, meeting all these really strange people. Just trying to make friends that were like me, so that I'd understand what it was that I was.”_

Kevin’s monologue went on, but Reggie zoned out and zeroed in on him, not listening to anything in particular, just watching him, his mannerisms, the little quirk of his lips when he pulled a smirk, the raise of his eyebrows and motions of his hips and hands, his stance. Just all things Kevin.

(And if Moose saw Reggie practically flinch out of his seat when Kevin’s character got injured during a tap routine, he was a good friend and didn’t say anything about it.)

Reggie stuffed his hands in his jacket and leaned back against Moose’s car as Kevin walked out to the parking lot, one of the last cast and crew left, and he had a big smile on his face.

“You came,” he said, looking at Reggie over Moose’s shoulder as he gave the big guy a hug, then started walking towards Reggie and the car.

“I did. It was okay,” Reggie said with a single shoulder shrug, and Kevin rolled his eyes, still smiling, then he looked around the parking lot, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Your car isn’t here.”

“He’s coming with us,” Moose said with a wink and a grin.

Reggie flushed. Kevin beamed.

“Good for you, Mantle.”

-

Reggie flashed his fake ID to the bouncer at the club, The Red Door, or some shit, and he, Kevin, and Moose were let in. He made a bee-line for the bar with the other two following close behind as they tried to keep up with him through the crowd.

“Vodka. So much vodka,” Reggie told the bartender, who laughed and turned around to get a bottle of Goose. Reggie’s eyes wandered down to his assless chaps and his jaw dropped. “Man, what? Where are we?” he groaned, his head dropping onto the bar. Kevin slipped in by the bar beside him and laughed.

“They make a living off of tips. Trust me, it helps them,” he said, and he slid a full shot glass towards Reggie, handing another one to Moose. He clinked his with the other two and downed it in one go. “How many shots until you’re fun?” He asked, his arm draping around Reggie’s shoulder, leaning in closer to him. Reggie gave him a nervous smile and leaned away. Kevin grinned back mischievously. “Bartender, keep these shots coming until this cute boy is having a good time and kissing me.”

Seven shots in and Reggie’s face was warm. He took off his jacket and left it behind the bar, taking a seat again, swiveling around in the chair as the bass pounded through his ears. He felt someone stop him and opened his eyes to Kevin leaning into him between his legs, his chest and forehead pressed against his.

“If you’re tryna get intimate, this is the wrong setting,” Reggie said with a chuckle, and Kevin shook his head, leaning away as he laughed.

“I wanna dance,” he said, reaching for Reggie’s hand. Reggie downed his eighth shot and allowed Kevin to lead him out to the dance floor.

Kevin kept it light and fun at first, giving Reggie his distance and dancing around him. Reggie danced with his eyes closed. He had a real, genuine smile on his face and would knit his brows together when he was _really_ feeling a groove. He would open his pretty brown eyes and lock them with Kevin’s, and he’d laugh a real, genuine laugh. Kevin knew little to nothing about Reggie outside the bedroom, but sometimes, the boy really gave him a bad case of the butterflies and seeing him finally let loose and be himself was doing so much for him.

“There you are,” Kevin said, loud enough for Reggie to hear, and Reggie opened his eyes, tilting his head to the side, trying to understand what Kevin meant. Kevin just shook his head and moved closer, his arms draping over Reggie’s shoulders as Reggie’s arms circled around his waist. Kevin pressed his forehead against Reggie’s cheek as they danced, their hips in sync, and his nose nudged Reggie’s jaw and chin as he coaxed him to turn his head. “Kiss me, come on, babe, I’ve missed you,” he murmured.

Reggie felt like his heart dropped into his stomach and up into his throat, and kissing Kevin was all he could bring himself to do. He kissed him deeply, his hands sliding over his hips, still half-dancing to the music. Reggie finally gave up on dancing and just dragged Kevin out of the crowd and pinned him against the wall in a dark corner, hands leaving his hips to frame his face, that wonderful, textural stubble scratching at his hands. 

“Did you miss me too?” Kevin breathed out once they pulled apart, and Reggie made a non-committal noise before going back in for another kiss, his tongue massaging against Kevin’s, his hands sliding down his chest. “Tell me you missed me and you get to fuck me tonight,” Kevin said, pushing at Reggie’s chest, his lips swollen and red, his shirt unbuttoned halfway down, looking like fucking sex on legs.

“I missed you,” Reggie blurted out, and Kevin laced their fingers together and dragged him away. They laughed, tripped, and stumbled over their own feet as they ran down the block to Moose’s car and Reggie unlocked the doors and got into the back, pushing the seats down, then lay on his back as Kevin straddled him and reached back to close the door.

“How much did you miss me?” he whispered, leaning down and sucking on his earlobe.

“So much,” Reggie said, short circuiting, and Kevin erupted in another fit of laughs. Reggie made a face at him and grabbed him by the front of the shirt and pulled him up to shut him up.

Kevin started rolling his hips against Reggie’s, the fronts of their crotches pressing and grinding together, their breathing slowly getting heavier and deeper, hands desperately pulling at clothes, trying to get in contact with skin. Reggie finally broke the kiss and undid the rest of the buttons on Kevin’s shirt, kissing his neck and chest. He dragged his teeth over his nipple before swirling his tongue around it, then rolled them over pinning Kevin on his back. Reggie stared at Kevin as he reached over to undo his pants, pulling them down with his briefs, his cock springing up, already leaking pre-cum, and Reggie leaned down to lick the slit.

“Shit, Reg,” Kevin said with a shuddering breath, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “You’re gonna blow me, babe?”

“If you shut up,” Reggie said, cocking an eyebrow, and grinned when Kevin kept his mouth closed. He had never done it before, he could only mimic the things that he knew he liked. He started at the base and licked up the length of Kevin’s cock and swirled his tongue around the head, cleaning off all the pre-cum, and then he bobbed his head up and down, taking him an inch at a time until he was left with a mouthful of cock. He rubbed him against the inside of his cheek and gagged and slurped around him, pulling back with a cough. Kevin let out an appreciative moan, twisting his fingers in Reggie’s hair.

“Natural cock sucker. How could you not be with dick sucking lips like those?” Kevin teased despite coming slightly undone, his voice low and gravelly and so, so perfect. Reggie composed himself after choking and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, going down on Kevin again, taking him in slower, carefully, drawing out another long moan from him. When he pulled back, strands of spit still connected his tongue to Kevin’s cock and he looked up at Kevin from under his lashes, blushing when he realized what he was doing.

He was putting on a show for Kevin, just like Kevin always put a show on for him, and Kevin was loving it just as much as he did.

Reggie dug his teeth in and sucked and tongued at his skin at his hip, marking him with a big hickey, and then he pushed himself up and kissed Kevin hard and rough, dominatingly, curling one hand around his chin to keep him flat on the seats. He let go only to reach into the glove compartment, pulling out the lube and condoms he knew that Moose had handy. Kevin saw the lube and immediately turned onto his hands and knees for it, looking at Reggie over his shoulder.

“I’ve been so fucking good, so fucking patient, God, please,” Kevin murmured under his breath. Reggie laughed as he opened the lube up and spread some over his hand and fingers.

“You have been good,” Reggie said, leaning down to kiss and lick at Kevin’s back dimples, then he kissed the globe of his ass and bit his flesh playfully. “Fuck, this ass is all mine tonight, isn’t it?” He gave Kevin’s ass a light smack, tinging the skin pink, then he rubbed over it before spreading his thighs, sliding his lubed up thumb over Kevin’s tight asshole. He slowly pressed it in, working his hole bigger.

“All yours. Get me hot and open for you, I need you.”

Reggie pulled his thumb out and pressed his index and middle finger into him, eliciting a shaky moan from Kevin.

“There?”

“Yes, please, baby.”

Reggie stretched him out, his cock painfully hard tucked away in his jeans, and he quickly undid them, his cock nestling against Kevin’s underneath him. 

“Have you thought about fucking this thick cock, Kev?” Reggie asked, breath heavy in his ear as he hovered around him, his chest pressed against his back as he fucked his hole out with his fingers, sliding his cock along Kevin’s. “Do you get yourself off to the thought of me pinning you down, making you take it after all these weeks of just fucking around? You drive me so fucking crazy.”

Kevin fucked himself back against Reggie’s fingers, panting and groaning, gyrating his hips to get his fingers deeper.

“Yes, all the time. I cum so hard when I think about you pulling my ass back against you, making me take your dick so deep, it hurts so good. I want you to fuck me up, just fucking take me, baby, I can take anything you give me.”

Reggie rolled a condom on and lined himself up at Kevin’s puckered hole, slowly pressing the head of his cock into him, followed by the rest of his cock, inch by inch. Kevin muffled his whines against the car seat, curling his hands into fists. Reggie bottomed out and kept himself there, letting Kevin get used to his girth and length, gyrating his hips. His hands rested on Kevin’s hips and rubbed over his ass, squeezing his flesh and parting his cheeks, watching his ass take his cock as he slowly started pumping in and out of him in long, teasing thrusts. The thrusts slowly started picking up as Kevin loosened up around Reggie’s dick, and Reggie pressed Kevin’s face down against the seat as he fucked him, his back arching to take Reggie even deeper, even harder.

Reggie wanted to watch him.

After bringing himself to the edge of orgasm, he pulled out and Kevin whined at the loss, his eyes snapping open, looking at Reggie, who just pushed him onto his back and lifted Kevin’s legs up against his chest, opening up his ass with his cock again. He kissed Kevin’s ankle and calf as his hips smacked the backs of his thighs, then he spread lube on his hand again and reached down to jerk Kevin off, already slick with all that dripping cum.

“You’re gonna cum for me, Kev, I wanna see what you look like when you cum with an ass full of cock,” Reggie panted, and Kevin whimpered and moaned, his eyes fluttering shut, brows furrowed as he took every one of Reggie’s painful, pleasurable strokes. When he came, he spilled out over Reggie’s hand and spurted thick white strings of cum over his abs. He went limp, his arms loosely hung around Reggie’s neck, and Reggie laughed while he lost his breath, leaning down to kiss Kevin deeply. As their tongues entwined, Reggie felt himself at the edge of another orgasm and let himself give in, filling the condom with cum, pounding his hips once, twice, three times against a moaning, growling Kevin. His lips found Kevin’s again and he kissed him, wet, sloppy, and lazy, breathing into his mouth, his forehead against his. He pulled out and Kevin let out another shudder, and Reggie rolled the condom off before tying it off, opening the car door, and dropping it out into the gutter. He lay back and Kevin curled up with him, feeling himself beginning to doze off.

He came to when the door swung open, and he and Kevin both made a scramble for their clothes.

“Aw, fuck, guys, are you serious?” Moose groaned.

-

They got to the hotel and Reggie glanced at Moose claiming one bed, and Kevin claiming the other bed. He got in the shower, sobering up, washing off the gross, sticky feeling of the club and the gross, sticky feeling of Kevin’s dry cum. He played the entire night over and over in his head, his eyes closed, taking deep, soothing, therapeutic breaths. When he got out of the shower, Kevin went in, and Reggie kept his towel tight around his waist as he tried to slide by him. Kevin caught him by the wrist and kissed him, a soft peck on the lips. Reggie blushed and closed the door behind him. He changed into shorts and a t-shirt. Moose turned the TV on, but Reggie knew he was watching him in his peripherals.

He took a deep breath, let it out, and he pulled the sheets back on Kevin’s bed and climbed in. He sat and fluffed the pillow up, staring at the TV blankly.

“Are you sleeping there tonight?” Moose finally asked, muting the TV show and giving Reggie a smile. Reggie shifted in his seat.

“I think so,” he said after a few quiet seconds. Kevin came out of the bathroom, then, and he was ecstatic to see Reggie in his bed. He got in beside him and Moose went to shower. Kevin tugged on Reggie until he quit sitting up and laid down instead. He was tense again. Kevin slid his hand under his shirt and drew soothing shapes on his stomach and side, making Reggie loosen up again. He threaded his fingers through Kevin’s hair as Kevin rested his head on his chest, curling up with him. “I thought you were really good in the play tonight,” he said, tugging on his hair gently, and he felt Kevin smile against his chest.

“I thought you were really good in the car tonight,” Kevin replied, and Reggie laughed, pressing his lips to the top of Kevin’s head. Kevin reached for Reggie’s free hand and laced their fingers together.


	6. Chapter 6

It was an addiction.

 _An addition to dick_.

_**Addicktion.** _

Reggie had Kevin anywhere and everywhere he could, at any time.

Maybe it was an addiction to the way Kevin made him feel, like he was invincible, like he could withstand anything, survive anything, as long as Kevin was by his side. He played football better, knowing Kevin was in the stands and would later be bent over his study desk with his hands pressed tight against his mouth to keep him from moaning as he fucked him, hard and fast. His tests were coming back with higher grades, because Kevin’s idea of pillow talk was to break out the books to catch up on his study time because he decided to treat Reggie to an hour long blowjob instead.

Maybe it was an addiction to the way Kevin felt, hard and strong. Reggie found himself frequently wanting to spoon, just so he could curl around Kevin and feel his tight back muscles against his cheek, feel his taut abs under his hands. He would press small kisses against Kevin’s shoulder blades as Kevin read his books, and he’d pull him tighter and closer when the front door would open or close as Sheriff Keller came in and out of the house.

“Do you have to go?” Kevin asked one of those times after his dad left for work, stretched out on the bed, looking every single bit as inviting and seductive as he was trying to be, and Reggie laughed as he pulled on his shirt.

“I have to. You know I’d rather stay here with you than at some stupid football practice,” he said, pulling on his pants, and he sat down at the edge of the bed and leaned down to kiss Kevin. When he pulled away, Kevin had a weird, amused look on his face.

“Did you just call football ‘stupid’?” He reached up, looping his arms around Reggie’s neck. “If it’s so stupid, maybe you should just _stay_.”

Reggie showed up to practice a half hour late and apologized profusely as he ran out onto the field in his gear, pulling his neck roll up to hide the litter of bites Kevin had left behind.

-

Reggie tried to stay away from Kevin at school, because it was the one place they absolutely could not exist in. He kept his distance, kept talk to a minimum, and then he’d stare at the back of his head throughout English class, antsy for the day to be over. When the final bell rung, Reggie sighed in relief and collected his things. Kevin turned around to look at him and opened his mouth to say something, but Josie stepped in and cleared her throat.

“Reggie. We need to talk.”

Kevin’s eyebrows rose and he turned back around, picking his things up and leaving. He tapped away at his phone, and Reggie felt his vibrate in his pocket.

“What’s up, Pussycat?” Reggie asked, putting on the charm as he stood up and draped his arm around her shoulders, walking out of the classroom with her. He looked down the hallway to see Fangs leaning against his locker, talking to Kevin, his hand reaching up to gently push at Kevin’s chest. White hot jealousy seared straight through him and he stopped walking.

Josie kept walking until she realized he wasn’t following and turned around, brows furrowed, then she followed his line of vision before turning to Reggie, smacking his arm.

“Oh, my God, Reggie, it’s 2018. _Please_. Learn to coexist.”

Reggie snapped out of it and stared at her, incredulous.

“What the fuck, Jos?”

“Like, honestly, that shit you pulled a few months ago with Kevin in the gym, with the wrestling team? It was totally almost a deal breaker. I can’t be out here as a strong, independent, black, female singer-songwriter with homophobic arm candy.”

“What did you need to talk about?” Reggie asked, changing the topic, and he threw his arm around Josie again, leading her down the hall. He and Kevin made eye contact as they passed and Reggie dropped his gaze, his arm tightening around Josie.

“You haven’t asked me to be your date yet. You know, to your parents’ charity? What’s up with that?” 

“It’s not for weeks, you didn’t give me enough time,” he said, rolling his eyes. “So eager to be seen on the arm of the Riverdale Football Captain.”

“Reggie, it’s this Saturday. What’re you talking about?” Josie asked, tugging on his arm and looking up at him. Reggie stared at her and Josie nodded her head slowly. “Uh huh.”

“Uh, shit. Be my date to my parents’ charity?”

Josie rolled her eyes and unlinked her arm from his, walking away.

“Be early. I need to warm up.”

“I’ve got a football game on Friday. You know I do physio the next day,” Reggie said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Just be early, Reg. I don’t care when.”

He remembered that his phone had buzzed with a text and he went to check it.

**_ kevin keller _ **   
<3

-

The football game Friday night was brutal. Riverdale came out with the win, but Reggie felt bruised and battered as he took his gear off and went to the shower to clean up. He walked out in a towel to a mostly empty locker room, and Archie looked up at him, knitting his brows together.

“Damn. They got you good, huh?” he asked, pulling his shirt on and motioning at the bruise on Reggie’s side.

“Yeah. Someone didn’t do his job,” Reggie said, taking his towel off and snapping it at Moose. He turned around to get into his locker and both Moose and Archie sucked in a deep breath.

“ _Damn_ ,” Archie repeated, and Moose started laughing. Reggie whipped his head around and glared.

“What?”

“You’ve got yourself a personal back scratcher, or something?” 

Reggie flushed red and pulled on his underwear and a shirt, keeping his head down.

Kevin needed to cut his god damn nails.

“Envy isn’t a good look on you, kid,” he said, pulling on his jeans, and he patted Archie on the back before tousling Moose’s hair. “See you boys tomorrow. Dress well. Don’t make me look bad as your captain.”

Reggie came home to an empty house with money on the table for food. He grimaced, took the money, and left. He used it to buy beer and weed instead, a subtle ‘fuck you’ to his parents, and he used his own money to get groceries. He sat in his car and twiddled his thumbs against the steering wheel before taking his phone out to call Kevin.

“Hi,” he said, once Kevin picked up. “Is your dad home tonight?”

He parked around the back and let himself in, carrying the beer and groceries, and he dropped them on the kitchen counter and wrapped his arms around Kevin from behind, smiling against his shoulder as he squeezed until Kevin let out a shrill yell and shoved him away.

“You’re so aggressive all the time. Tone it the fuck down,” he scolded, but he was smiling and reaching for Reggie again. “Rough game today. How are you?”

“Mm. Sore,” he sighed, and he deposited a peck to his lips before cracking open a beer and taking a deep sip. He opened one up for Kevin and went around the counter to get the groceries out of the bag.

“Are you… cooking me dinner?” Kevin asked after watching him for a few seconds. Reggie looked up at him and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m cooking _me_ dinner. You just happen to be here,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“You’re in my house. You’re cooking _me_ dinner.”

“Don’t get fucking weird about it.”

Kevin smiled and kissed him before taking the beer and hopping up onto the counter to watch as Reggie maneuvered around the kitchen. With nothing happening on Instagram or Facebook, he got increasingly bored and jumped down to see what Reggie was doing.

“When did you learn how to cook?” he asked, his arms sliding around him as he stirred the ground beef in a pot. He rested his head on his chin, pressing his nose against the side of his neck.

“Uh, still learning, but over the last year, I got sick of take out. Mom cooks if Moose comes over, but, mostly it’s take out,” Reggie answered, reaching for the spaghetti to pour into the boiling water in another pot.

“Why always take out?” Kevin asked, his lips brushing over his skin.

“They’re never home. Stop distracting me,” Reggie said, huffing out a laugh. He turned around and wrapped his arms around Kevin’s middle, leaning down to kiss him. Kevin made a noise against his lips and brought his hands up, tangling his fingers in the hair at the back of his neck as he deepened the kiss. “Kevin, if anything burns, I will kill you,” Reggie murmured as he broke away. “I am so fucking hungry.”

Kevin laughed and sat up on the counter again, sitting on his hands to show that he would behave.

Reggie mixed the tomato sauce in with the ground beef and mixed it all up before turning it on medium-low to simmer. He tasted it and added more spices before going over to Kevin with a spoonful of it. He watched Kevin lean forward to taste and closed the distance between them to lock their lips together before he could even comment on the sauce. They made out, soft and slow, Kevin’s hands sliding under Reggie’s shirt as Reggie dropped the spoon in the sink to free up both his hands, curling them over Kevin’s jaw, thumbs brushing over his skin, and then he pulled back, their noses still brushing together. When Reggie opened his eyes, Kevin was staring at him, his eyes bright and crinkled at the sides as he smiled.

“I love it when you kiss me like that,” Kevin said, running his hands over Reggie’s sides before sliding them out from under his shirt. “Fix me a plate.”

Reggie turned around to hide his blush and got the plates from the cabinet. He drained the spaghetti and fished around the drawers for forks before plating them both some food, and he handed the plate off to Kevin. He sat down on the counter beside him, their knees and shoulders bumping, and he quietly started eating, twirling the spaghetti around his fork, taking a big bite.

He knew that he was falling hard for Kevin. It got to the point where he _looked_ for him. During football games, he took time before kick-off to scan the crowd until he spotted him. He couldn’t wait to get out of school because it meant he’d be able to see Kevin. Here he was, not wanting to be alone at home, so he went to visit Kevin. He should be going with Kevin to the charity event. He should be with Kevin.

Why was he such a pussy?

“What’s on your mind?” Kevin finally asked, putting his fork down and looking at Reggie.

“I asked Josie to go to the charity fundraiser with me tomorrow,” he admitted without missing a beat. Kevin was quiet for a moment, confused.

“Yeah, and?”

“And nothing, I just – I asked Josie.”

Kevin fell quiet again, brows knit together.

“I didn’t ask you,” Reggie clarified, staring down at his plate.

“I didn’t expect you to,” Kevin said, putting his hand over his.

“I wanted to.”

“I don’t think you’re ready for it yet.”

It was Reggie’s turn to be quiet and he pulled his hand from Kevin’s to pick up his fork again.

He wanted to be.

-

Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Jughead snuck over to Kevin’s place and Betty used her key to get in, giggling to themselves. They decorated the living room, speaking amongst themselves in hushed voices, and Jughead brought a cake from Archie’s car, setting it up with 17 candles. There was a quiet knock on the door and Archie answered it, forcing a smile as Sweet Pea, Toni, and Fangs walked in with presents.

“Fangs wanted us to be here,” Sweet Pea said, his smile just as strained.

“I can’t believe Kevin tried to let his birthday go unannounced,” Betty said, crossing her arms. “Why do you think he did that?”

“Maybe he didn’t want a party, you know?” Jughead said, rolling his head around to look at her. “Sometimes people don’t want parties.”

“Get over it, Jug, your party happened and it was a mistake. We get it,” Veronica said, swatting at him. “Let’s go get the birthday boy.”

-

“Tell me about yourself,” Kevin said, blanket collected around his naked torso as he watched Reggie roll a joint. Reggie looked up, cocking an eyebrow, and he laughed.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids, Kev.”

“But we didn’t really know each other, did we? You stopped hanging out with Archie when Betty and I came around,” Kevin pointed out, and Reggie licked the strip of adhesive on the rolling paper and finished it up, making a sound as he gave a one-shouldered shrug.

“We were like, eight, man. Ten years ago, almost. Betty just… took a lot of Archie’s attention. He stopped wanting to hang out. So I moved on to bigger and better things.”

“I didn’t know that,” Kevin said, watching Reggie move to the window to light the joint. “Who did you hang out with after?”

“No one, not really. Not until Moose came around. Why’re you asking me so many questions?” Kevin smiled wryly and got out of bed, going over to Reggie and running his fingers through his hair.

“Just wanna get to know the boy that’s been trying to run away with my heart.”

“You sure you wanna? There’s a lot of baggage that comes with me,” Reggie said, taking a drag from the joint and looking up at Kevin. Kevin leaned in and kissed him before parting his lips as Reggie exhaled, the smoke escaping his mouth and floating into Kevin’s.

The door opened slowly and Kevin and Reggie both froze as the hallway light hit them. Betty and Veronica stared at them, eyes wide, mouths open.

“Is Kevin smoking weed in there? Does his dad know about this?” came Archie’s alarmed voice, and the door opened wider.

Everyone stared in shock and Reggie, heart pounding, finally got himself moving. He lunged for his clothes and pulled them on as Kevin ran for the door and slammed it in their faces.

“What’re they doing here?” Reggie demanded, panic spreading throughout his body, and he fumbled with his phone before shoving it into his back pocket.

“I don’t know,” Kevin whispered, watching Reggie move around, his chest heavy. “Reggie, it’s going to be okay. Nobody will say a thing.”

Reggie didn’t bother with a response. He got his shoes on and flew out the door, shoving everyone out of the way. He hurried down the hall and ran out of the house, got into his car, and sped away, tears prickling his eyes. He pulled over at the side of the road and wiped at them with the backs of his hands, then started smacking and punching his steering wheel.

“Fuck!”

-

Kevin got dressed with shaky hands and took his time getting his shit together before opening the door.

“Kevin, we’re so sorry,” Betty started, and Kevin held a hand up.

“Why the fuck are all of you in my house?” He started walking through the hallway and he stopped at the living room, staring at all the decorations and balloons.

“It’s your birthday,” Betty said in a small voice.

“I think we should go,” Toni said, looking at the forlorn look on Fangs’ face. They started to go, but Kevin reached out and grabbed Sweet Pea by the arm, setting his jaw and looking up at him.

“This doesn’t get out,” he said firmly.

“I fucking hate Mantle, but I’m not going to out him,” Sweet Pea said with a sneer, pulling his arm out of Kevin’s grip.

The Serpents left and Kevin sat down on the couch, folding his hands over his mouth as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Betty sat down across from him while Veronica took a seat next to him. Archie and Jughead stood with their arms crossed.

“I’ve seen Reggie naked, like, a lot, you know? In the locker rooms,” Archie said, and Kevin made a face.

“I don’t know where this is going, but stop talking. Please.”

“Do you like him? Is it just sex?” Betty asked, reaching out to touch Kevin’s hand.

“God, you know what? I just – I don’t want to talk about this. Please, just stop.” Everyone fell quiet and just watched as Kevin sighed and closed his eyes, burying his face in his hands. “You guys gotta stop with the surprise parties,” he finally said, shaking his head. “You’re just… so fucking bad at them.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS!!! thank you for the flood of love since the last chapter! i'm really glad you're all enjoying this. some warnings for this chapter are recreational drug use, a het!sex scene, and just general angst. ENJOY!

Reggie pulled his suit pants on and tucked his shirt on before looping a belt through, and then he shrugged on his suit jacket. He checked himself out in the mirror, shaking his arms and legs out, and he stared at his eye bags.

Needless to say, Reggie didn’t sleep very well the previous night. He ignored calls from Kevin and Archie alike, tossed and turned in bed, his mind unsettled as he felt himself unraveling. He sighed, big and deep, before walking to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He slicked it back into his hair before heading down the stairs.

“I’m picking Josie up,” he said, kissing his mother on the cheek. “Make sure everything is set up for her, will you?”

“We have people to do that for us, dear,” his mom replied, tapping through her phone. “This thing you’ve got with Josie. She’s a beautiful, talented girl, you know? Have you thought about settling down?”

“We’re 17, mom, we don’t need to figure it out.” Reggie rolled his eyes and left.

He pulled up at Josie’s and took a quick lick of jingle jangle to wake himself up before making his way up to ring the doorbell, smiling when her mom opened the door. Sierra eyed him, always mistrusting of him, and went to the stairs to call for Josie.

“Will we be seeing you tonight?” Reggie asked sierra politely as he took Josie’s hand and walked her to the door.

“Yes, I think you will,” Sierra replied coolly, and Josie gave her mom a look before pulling Reggie away.

Reggie and Josie had history that few people knew about. They had an attraction realized early in middle school. Everybody thought they were supposed to be together. Reggie grew up and put on a tough guy, womanizing façade. Josie wasn’t into that, but she was into the Reggie she knew before he became the tough guy. Before the family problems, before the Mantles got too flashy, before Reggie was _Mantle the Magnificent_.

And Reggie adored Josie.

He really did, despite everything. She was resilient, she was strong, honest, and brave. She was beautiful, she was smart, and she was everything that he thought he could want in a person, which was the only reason that she was the only person he ever courted on the regular. Over the past several months, his fascination and attraction to Josie had dwindled, but the adoration stayed. He didn’t know what she’d had thought of Kevin, if she found out, but he wasn’t too keen to find out himself.

Reggie drove down to the banquet hall and parked in a corner, both he and Josie quiet, and once he turned the engine off, he found Josie straddling him in the drivers’ seat. 

“Josie –“ he said, looking out the window, slightly alarmed, and Josie framed his face in her hands, making him look at her.

“I told you, I wanted to warm up,” she cooed with a smile, leaning down and kissing him on the lips. Reggie reciprocated for a moment before he leaned away.

“I thought you meant, like, _traditionally_ ,” he said, laughing softly, nervously, his hands curling around her petite waist.

“I did. I meant, like, _Reggie and Josie_ traditionally. What’s wrong, Mantle? You don’t miss me?” Josie asked as she shrugged off the straps of her dress, her tits peeking out over the sinking neckline. “I’m not even wearing any panties for you.” She laced their fingers together and sucked on Reggie’s before pushing their hands down between them, the skirt of her dress hiked up and bunched up around her hips.

Reggie let Josie sink down on his fingers and he leaned back to watch her face as she got used to the intrusion, her brows knit together, her lips parted slightly. He leaned forward to catch them with his own, kissing her deep. 

He knew Josie, inside and out. They’d been hooking up for years. 

He worked her pussy until she was wet and desperate for it, dripping down his knuckles, and he let her undo his belt and pants. His cock sprung out – because he was only human – and he wrapped his juice-soaked hand around himself before sinking into Josie, her wet, tight pussy squeezing around him. Josie rode him hard and Reggie leaned the seat back, watching the Goddess of a woman roll her hips around, using him to get off. He pressed a hand over her clit and watched her jaw drop as she ground on him, adding more friction, his cock hitting every good spot inside of her until she came with her hands tangled through Reggie’s hair. She climbed off of him and sucked him off until he came with a grunt and a moan.

Reggie lay there, breathing heavy as Josie leaned out of the car to spit.

“Do you have any water?” she asked when she pulled herself back, and Reggie reached for water bottle in the back, handing it to her. She swished it around her mouth and spat out the door again before straightening her dress and hair out. Reggie brought his chair back up to the normal position and did his pants and belt back up and fixed his hair, feeling Josie’s eyes on him. “Reggie, are you okay? Did you… not want to?”

“No,” Reggie said, too quickly. “No, of course I wanted to. It’s always great with you.” He finished fixing his hair and climbed out of the car as Josie did the same. He leaned against the door after he closed it, looking at Josie over the top of the car, and Josie looked back at him.

“You’re just – a lot more _vocal_ , you know? And a lot more aggressive. It’s why I like fucking you,” Josie said as she came around to his side and linked their arms together. “What’s going on, are things at home okay?”

“Things are fine, Josie.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before walking through the doors, killing anything else she wanted to say. They put on smiles for the cameras and went to socialize and Reggie introduced her to his parents’ friends as a new, upcoming talent.

-

Kevin caught Josie and Reggie fucking in his car as he walked by with Betty and Veronica. His back stiffened when he realized it and he kept his eyes forward, not wanting either of them to see. Archie met with them in the foyer and they mingled with some classmates, but Kevin was distracted as he kept the doors in his peripherals at all times. When Reggie and Josie walked in, it felt like a punch to the gut, watching Reggie kiss the top of her head like that, in public, where everyone could see. 

It was something Reggie always did, and it was only bothering Kevin now because of the events of the previous night.

“I’m getting a drink,” Kevin announced while the other three had their own conversations, and they all gave him a strange look as he made a bee-line for the bar.

-

Reggie let Josie go for her soundcheck and when he turned around, he caught his mom looking his way. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up before motioning to Josie, and he gave her a strained smile in return and turned away again. He sat down with Moose and Midge at their table, wanting so badly to tell them everything.

“You’re really putting on a show out there,” Moose commented dryly as he leaned back in his seat, his eyes on Reggie as he fidgeted. “And you’re on JJ, dude, are you serious?”

“Just a little,” Reggie admitted, and Moose went through his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag full of edibles. He popped it in his mouth and waited for the mellowing affects to hit him. He looked around and spotted Kevin at the bar, then he looked away again and reached for a glass of water, taking a sip.

“Come out for a walk,” Moose finally said after observing him for a little while longer. “I’ll be back,” he added to Midge, leaning down to kiss her. He pulled Reggie out of his seat and all but dragged him outside. He looked around for anyone walking by them before speaking. “What happened?”

And just like that, Reggie broke open and spilled everything to Moose, from cooking Kevin dinner to the interrupted smoke session, to every single person that had seen him that night.

“I feel like… it’s all going to come crashing down on me, you know?” he said, looking up at Moose, brows furrowed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Tough shit, Reg,” Moose said with a shrug of his shoulders, and Reggie’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“I said, tough shit. You couldn’t have hidden it forever. You’ve got talent. Real, natural talent that you’ve already been able to tap into. Your football career won’t be fucked if you come out, not with all those other gay athletes coming out. What’s the big deal, man? Reggie Mantle is football, huh? Reggie Mantle’s also the biggest fucking closet case I’ve ever seen, myself included.”

“Fuck you,” Reggie snapped, pushing at Moose. “You think it’s just about football? What about my family? What about Josie?”

“What about Josie?” Moose repeated, brows raised. “Are you serious? What about _Kevin_? Are you just gonna have him as your side bitch while you run around with a bunch of chicks?”

“I can’t see Kevin anymore,” Reggie said, and Moose fell quiet.

“You’re gonna break up with him?”

“For fucks sake, man, we were never dating.” Reggie reached into Moose’s pocket to take out a carton of cigarettes and pulled one out with his lips. He tossed him the pack back and lit the cigarette, taking a deep inhale. Moose leaned against the building beside him, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m going to call bullshit on your bullshit, okay? I think it’s really great that you have someone that you’re comfortable with. Someone you can be with. Someone that isn’t me.”

Reggie scoffed as he exhaled the smoke and sniffed his nose, brushing it with the back of his hand. Moose put his hand on Reggie’s shoulder and squeezed lightly, giving him a small smile.

“I think he’s good for you.”

Reggie pushed away from the wall and tossed his cigarette out onto the parking lot before wordlessly going back into the banquet hall. He slid his hands in his pockets as he walked around, taking note that Kevin was still by the bar. He paced around for a while, even as Josie took the stage.

Moose was right. Reggie was kinder with Kevin in his life. He had more drive, he didn’t end his nights thinking about football, he always had someone to talk to, someone to kiss, someone that had no expectations of him other than for him to just _be there_ sometimes. Kevin made his heart hurt. Kevin made his stomach hurt.

Reggie thought that maybe it was love, and if he loved Kevin, then he certainly couldn’t keep being with him.

At the end of the night, Reggie stood with his parents, Sierra, and Josie, half-listening to their praises over Josie’s performance. He watched as Betty helped Kevin up from the table and walked him out. When Kevin looked up to meet his gaze, he swallowed thickly and looked away, moving closer to Josie.

Pussy move.

Such a pussy.

-

Football season ended and track and field started up. Nobody had brought up what they had seen that night at Kevin’s place, not even the Serpents.

Everyone had kept their mouths shut, exactly as Kevin had promised.

Reggie parked his car as the clock hit 6am, the sun just beginning to rise, and he walked out onto the empty track field. He plugged his phone into his ears and put on some music before beginning his stretches, sitting down in the grass, watching the sky change from pinks and purples to blues. He hit the track, running lap after lap until he skidded to a stop, sweat dripping down his face, his grey t-shirt discoloured from it all. He tugged his earbuds out and nodded his head at Kevin, who stood several feet away from him, all decked out in his own running gear.

“Track team?” Reggie asked, and Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

“Every year since middle school.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah.”

“Which races do you run?”

“Yeah, I’m not doing this,” Kevin said with a sigh and he dropped his duffle bag off at the side of the track and started up his laps.

Reggie’s heart sank like it always did when Kevin was around, but he shook it off and slowly started his run again, leaving a huge distance between him and Kevin. Students slowly began to trickle in around school grounds, and, to his chagrin, he and Kevin decided to stop running at the same time and headed for the locker room. They dragged their feet as they walked through the tunnel to get to the room, panting heavily, covered in sweat. 

Reggie tried to not think about the last time they were panting heavily and covered in sweat.

He pointedly turned his back to Kevin as the other took his shirt off, and he closed his eyes, banging his forehead against his locker.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, the words loud in the empty locker room.

“What’re you sorry for?” Kevin asked, and Reggie shrugged his shoulders, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I freaked out.”

“What are you hoping to achieve by apologizing?”

The question caught Reggie off guard and he blinked, staring at the blue paint chipping away from his locker, and he turned around. Kevin still looked like he always did, which meant Reggie still felt like kissing him.

“Maybe friendship,” he said, and the word felt foreign on his tongue. He didn’t want friendship with Kevin.

“Maybe… you’ll have to work a little bit harder for that,” Kevin said, giving Reggie a small smile before he started for the showers. Reggie dragged some deodorant under his arms and splashed water on his face before changing into clean clothes, and he hurried out of the room before Kevin could come back with water droplets clinging to his fucking chest and shit.

He hesitated at the door, then he went back in and opened Kevin’s locker. He pulled his wrestling hoodie out of his bag and paused, looking around, waiting to see if the shower would stop running. He pressed his face against the sweater and inhaled deeply, warmth flooding through him as he smelled Kevin’s cologne and shampoo on it. Woodsy, musky, spicy, Kevin.

Reggie quietly closed Kevin’s locker. He unzipped his bag and stuffed the sweater into it before pulling his bag onto his shoulders and leaving.

-

Reggie lay in bed that night wrapped up in the stolen hoodie, scrolling through their entire text history, wishing he were different.


	8. Chapter 8

Reggie started looking forward to his 6am runs, because Kevin joined him at 6:30 every single time.

They didn’t talk, not really. They just ran. Sometimes together, sometimes Reggie trailed behind him, and at 7:30, they both headed into the locker rooms and Reggie got to see him naked and remember what it was like to be with him.

Maybe it was self-loathing that made Reggie put himself through it, all that hurt that he felt from being around him but not with him.

One day, Kevin did talk.

“So… you and Josie,” he said, and it was a statement, not a question. Reggie looked up at him as he unfolded a shirt, guarded, wary.

“Uh, yeah. Long time coming,” he replied, fidgeting with the shirt as he tried to find the hem.

“Are you happy?” Kevin asked, watching as Reggie dissolved into another one of his nervous fits, knowing all his tells. Reggie was a fidgeter.

“Yeah,” he lied, forcing his hands to stop. Kevin stared at him a little bit longer before nodding his head and pulling his bag up over his shoulder.

“Okay.” And he left.

“Don’t forget that we have a track meet after school,” Reggie called after him, and then made a face at himself in the mirror. “The fuck you doing, man?” he asked himself, shaking his head, and he finished getting ready for school.

-

Kevin walked into the student lounge and sat down beside Josie, heaving out a heavy sigh as he did so.

“Whoa, you look like, _extra_ tired this morning,” Josie said, side eyeing him, and she reached into her bag and squirted some lotion onto the palm of her hand. “Look, okay, this helps with eye bags and dark circles and just kind of brightens you up a bit!” She rubbed it on Kevin’s face without his consent, but he just sighed again and let it happen, closing his eyes.

“How was your date this weekend?” he asked, because he hated himself.

“Reggie’s really stepped it up over the last couple months. I’m really impressed,” Josie said, and she lightly slapped the sides of Kevin’s face with a bright smile and sat back down. “All done. He brought me flowers. We went on a little hike and he had food in his bag, so we had a little picnic at the top of the trail overlooking Riverdale. It was so beautiful. We were going to go out for dinner, too, but we decided on take out, and, you know. Of course we couldn’t keep our hands off each other,” she said with a roll of her eyes and a cock of her brow.

“Amazing,” Kevin said, nodding his head.

“I wish he cooked, though. I think he’d be perfect if he could cook.” Josie let out a wistful sigh and Kevin paused. 

“He doesn’t cook for you?”

Josie made a face. “That’s bad, right? Maybe I should push him to take some cooking classes this summer. Enough about me, how’s it going with Fangs?” she asked in a hushed whisper, smiling brightly, cocking her head to the side towards Fangs in the corner with Toni and Sweet Pea.

“Oh, my God, girl, that boy has a mouth that has been blessed by _God_ ,” Kevin said, closing his eyes, putting on the theatrics. Beside him, Josie giggled and quietly clapped her hands.

“Yay!”

“We’re still keeping it quiet, but, you know. Maybe we’ll come out with it soon.”

“I don’t know why you two are waiting in the first place.”

_Because your boyfriend is gay and possibly in love with me and extremely unstable and it might ruin him_.

“I don’t want the extra attention just yet, you know?” Kevin settled on saying, and Josie nodded her head.

“Okay, boo, I see you.”

Fangs locked eyes with Kevin from his spot across the room and he smiled before walking over, sitting down on the arm of the couch, his own arm falling around Kevin’s back. Kevin leaned into him a little bit as he and Josie talked about their history assignment. He abruptly turned his head and pressed a kiss to Fangs’ cheek, just for the sake of doing it, and Fangs smiled and played with the hair at the back of Kevin’s neck.

It was nice, he told himself, to be able to touch the person he wanted to touch in public.

-

Reggie got onto the bus after the rest of the track team had piled in, and he did a quick count of heads before leaning out to tell the coach that everyone was loaded up.

“You’re so responsible, Mantle,” Chuck Clayton commented with an amused smirk. Reggie smacked him upside the head as he walked by him and plunked down next to Moose, his legs spread out in the aisle. Kevin twisted around in his seat to look at the two of them.

“I’m going to nap. If I feel either of your bony little knees pressing against the back of my seat, there will be hell to pay.”

“Jesus, Kevin,” Moose said, eyebrows raised, and Kevin turned back around, fluffing up his bag to use as a pillow before disappearing as he half-laid down in his seat. Reggie stared at the back of the seat, then he looked at Moose, watching him. “Reggie. Don’t.” Reggie swung his legs out of the aisle and sat up with his back straight, his knees dangerously close to the back of the seat in front of them. “Reggie, no.” Reggie tipped his knees forward, pushing them against Kevin’s seat ever so slightly.

“Mantle, I know it’s you, because Moose has the sense to listen to me. I’ll kill you,” Kevin’s voice came, and Reggie smiled.

Kevin was an endurance runner. He ran the 2,500, the 5,000, and did long jump. Reggie did the 100, the 200, the 400, and the 4x100 relay race. It wasn’t their first track meet, but it was the first time Reggie was able to see what Kevin could do.

Reggie scanned the field, from Moose in shotput, to Midge all the way across with her discus, and then his eyes fell on Kevin walking across the track to get ready for his 2,500m race. Reggie’s feet dragged him all the way out onto the tartan, by Kevin’s starting point.

“Just like our 6am mornings,” he said, arms crossing over his chest, and Kevin nodded his head, shaking his legs out. “Save everything for that last lap.”

“Yes, coach,” Kevin said with a mocking grin and a wriggle of his brows. “Now back off, you’re gonna make me nervous.”

“Oh, I make you nervous?”

“You wanna talk about nerves, buddy?”

“I’m gonna whoop your ass with your gold medal after you win this race.”

The two of them grinned at each other, and Reggie cleared his throat and started walking backwards, away from Kevin. “Eyes on the prize, Keller.”

“You know it,” Kevin replied, and he took his position. Reggie watched him for a few more seconds before turning around. He heard the gun go off and looked over his shoulder, making sure Kevin got a good start, and then he walked through the field to check on Moose and Midge.

On Kevin’s eighth lap, he stumbled.

Reggie’s eyes went to him immediately and he cut himself off mid-conversation with Chuck, running off to the side of the track, side-stepping to keep up with Kevin.

“You good?” he asked, and Kevin breathed out a quick ‘yeah’. “Okay.” And then Reggie ran back to Chuck to continue their conversation. He could see Moose judging him from the distance. 

Fuck Moose.

On the twelfth and final lap, Reggie made sure he was waiting around the last 100 metres. Kevin was in third in a close race. When Kevin came around the final bend, Reggie started jumping up and down and screaming.

“Let’s go, Keller! Let’s fucking go! Rip this shit up!” he shouted as he bounded alongside him flailing his arms around. 

Kevin passed into second.

“Keep it going! Yes!” Reggie exclaimed, clapping his hands, and Kevin lunged forward at the finish, the flash going off as the picture was taken. “Fuck yes!”

Reggie was the most excited person in the stadium, by far.

Kevin leaned forward onto his knees as he caught his breath, and he huffed out a laugh as Reggie came at him with all his energy. Reggie pulled him into a hug, catching him off guard, and he finally brought himself to put his hands on Reggie’s shoulders, pushing him back slightly. Something flashed over Reggie’s face that Kevin wasn’t sure he’d seen before, but as he opened his mouth to say something about it, he felt someone turn him around and plant one on his lips.

Fangs wrapped his arms around Kevin as he kissed him and grinned as he pulled back.

“You killed it, babe,” he said, and Kevin was too shocked to say much of anything, too shocked to notice Fangs staring Reggie down, holding him possessively.

He noticed Reggie turning tail and running, though, and he squirmed out of Fangs’ grasp and ran after him, despite his legs feeling like jelly.

“Reggie,” he called out, and when Reggie didn’t stop, he grunted and turned his jog into a sprint to catch up to him. Once he did, he grabbed Reggie’s wrist and yanked him to a stop. “Reggie, please, come on, man,” he panted out, placing his hands on his heads to open up his chest, breathing in deeply.

“When did that start?” Reggie asked, bringing himself to look at Kevin, who sighed and shrugged, closing his eyes.

“Pretty soon after your parents’ fundraiser.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why does it matter?”

“It just does!” 

Reggie ran a hand through his hair as he started to walk away, then he turned back around to walk back towards Kevin, stopping several feet away, unsure what to do with himself.

“You were fucking Josie the day after everything went to hell,” Kevin said, forcing himself to stay calm. “I don’t think you get to play this card.”

Silence came over them and Reggie felt like crying. His insides felt like they were being shredded and he crouched down and hugged his knees, trying to string together the right words to say how Kevin made him feel. Kevin crouched down beside him and put his hand on his shoulder.

“You’re going to make someone really happy someday, but you’re going to need to accept who you are,” he said softly.

“I’m in love with you,” Reggie blurted out. “You can’t be with him, I’m in love with you.”

In the distance, Kevin was named for first place for the 5,000m race, literally beating out second by a nose. A fraction of a second.

It took less time for Kevin to lean forward to press a kiss to Reggie’s shaking lips.

-

Kevin still went home with Fangs that night, and Reggie couldn’t blame him. He felt like his feet were moving on their own as he walked to his car in the school parking lot, his medals clutched in one hand, keys in the other. He tossed his medals in the back as he got into the drivers’ seat, and he stared ahead blankly before making up his mind and starting up the car.

“I need to talk to you,” he said when Josie answered the door. She frowned and stepped out of the house, pulling her robe closer around herself. “I’m going to you with this because… I respect the hell out of you. I’ve been an asshole in the past, and you’ve been my constant. You’re always there when I need you and I’ve rarely been there when you’ve needed me, and you just deserve so much more than that.”

“Reggie, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”

“I’m gay.”

The silence that followed was deafening. It was the first time Reggie had ever said it, out loud and even to himself.

“Oh, hell, no,” Josie said, reaching behind her and closing the door. “You’re _gay_? Reggie Mantle is _gay_?”

“I’m gay. I’m fucking gay. I have sex with guys and I honest to God love it.” Now that Reggie had said it, he was feeling slightly hysterical, and Josie seemed to be right along with him.

“The boy I’ve been hooking up with for the last two years of my life is gay. You –“ she cut herself off, closing her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I can’t even be mad at you because it’s not something you can help, mother fucker. How do you keep hard when we fuck? When you fuck _any_ girl? I know I’m not the only one.”

Reggie shrugged.

“I’m 17 and a hole is a hole, I guess.”

That earned him a slap across the face.

-

Things were better after that.

Sure, Reggie still felt like setting himself on fire whenever he saw Fangs with his arm around Kevin, but it was… better. Telling Josie had lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. She didn’t hate him. 

“I will never hate you more than you hate yourself,” were her words, actually, but Reggie called it a win and he found himself in a relatively safe place with her.

Reggie and Kevin still ran together at 6am, even when track and field came to a close. It was a practice that the both of them had gotten used to. They don’t talk about Reggie’s confession, and they don’t talk about Fangs. Sometimes they’d sit in the bleachers and Reggie would lean back against Kevin’s knees and they’d watch the sunrise.

Sometimes Kevin would let himself play with Reggie’s hair, indulge him just a little bit, before nudging him up to start their run.

The pain in Reggie’s chest was still present, but dull.


	9. Chapter 9

Kevin liked Fangs.

He really liked Fangs.

Fangs was the coveted _good bad boy_ that Kevin had been after. He rode a bike, wore tight pants and a leather jacket, didn’t give a fuck what Sheriff Keller thought of him, cooked breakfast for Kevin in the mornings after fucking him into the mattress, and then would climb back in with him for a good cuddle session.

Dream. Boy. Material.

Kevin wasn’t in love with him, though, and he couldn’t even see himself falling in love with him.

On the last day of school, his daily routine of staring at Fangs and his cute face from across the cafeteria was interrupted as Reggie pulled up a chair at his table and Moose and Midge plopped down across from him. Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Jughead all exchanged looks, but Kevin gave him a smile.

“So, hear from any universities yet?” he asked, moving closer to Reggie and leaning forward, and Reggie shoved his sandwich in his mouth, chewing with one side of his mouth and attempting to speak with the other.

“Notre Dame has their eye on me next year. So does Arizona State, Washington State, and Oregon State,” Reggie mumbled around his food. “I just need to keep my grades up for a full ride.”

“How did you finish on the Honor Roll?” Veronica couldn’t help but ask, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’re asleep every single time I look your way in Chemistry.”

“Look at me often?” he asked, wriggling his eyebrows, and Veronica rolled her eyes.

“I won’t even bring up why that no longer works, Reginald.”

“I just… buckled down really hard over the last few months, I guess. Pulled all my grades up.” He glanced at Kevin, who smiled, until Reggie saved him by suffocating himself with more of his sandwich.

He was so gross sometimes.

“Moose heard from Oregon and Washington,” Reggie added, beaming at his best friend, and Moose flushed as Midge squeezed him proudly. “Arch, any scouts come for you?”

The girls and Kevin groaned about how there was too much football talk and Jughead buried his face in the newspaper, ignoring everyone around him. Reggie suddenly leaned away from Kevin and sighed quietly as Fangs came around and wrapped his arms around Kevin from behind, kissing the top of his head. He excused himself and heard the scrape of a chair as Archie followed him out of the cafeteria.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked, catching up to Reggie at his locker.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Red,” Reggie replied, tossing the rest of his sandwich away before cleaning his locker out.

“You’ve got one foot out the door, bro, there’s something that you need to talk about.”

Reggie piled all his textbooks up and slammed them into Dilton Doiley’s chest as he walked by.

“Be a pal and drop these off at my classes for me, would ya? Thanks.” He pulled his mostly empty bag up onto his shoulders and started walking away before Dilton could even protest. To his annoyance, Archie followed, like the stupidly eager, loyal, golden retriever of a person he was.

“We don’t like Fangs,” he said, and Reggie cocked an eyebrow, but kept walking. “Reg, come on, you know Kevin’s still into you.”

“Doesn’t look that way, Andrews. Besides, what do you expect me to do? He’s not a chick that needs saving. He’s not crying for help. He’s happy, and you should be happy for him.” Archie looked at Reggie like he had two heads. “Don’t look at me like that. Grow up. We’re out of this shithole next year and none of this will matter. I gotta take a whiz. Later.” He made a sharp turn to go to the bathroom and bumped into Sweet Pea. “Fuck off,” he said automatically as he slid by him. Sweet Pea rolled his eyes and followed him into the bathroom. “You’re not my type,” Reggie continued, glancing at him over his shoulder as he took himself out to pee.

“Relax,” Sweet Pea laughed, doing the same a couple stalls over. “Look, I wanted to talk to you about your boy Kevin.”

“Are you really trying to have a conversation with me right now while we’re holding our dicks?”

“Are you telling me you’ve never spoken to anyone before while holding a dick, your own or someone else’s?”

“Just, like, never an actual conversation, you know?”

“Oh, like a sexy conversation?”

“Mostly, yeah.”

“Yeah, that’s not what this is.”

“I hope not. You’re not my type.”

Reggie shook himself off and zipped up before flushing and went to wash his hands before leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. He looked around to make sure they were alone before speaking. “What about Kevin?”

“Is he good?” Sweet Pea asked with a small frown. “And I’m being real. I mean, I know you two just – it ended really weirdly, I know that. And you and I, we have our differences.”

“Yeah, you’re a moron.”

“We both love our boys, is what I’m getting at,” Sweet Pea said. “Fangs is like my brother, and I just want to be sure that he’s in good hands. Even if he is the Sheriff’s son.”

Reggie could’ve lied and sabotaged the whole thing, swooped down to take Kevin back for himself. Instead, he looked at Sweet Pea, and he gave him a small smile before telling the truth.

“He’s the fucking best, man. I don’t think you have a thing to worry about. Have a good summer. Don’t do anything to make me kick your ass.” 

Reggie walked out of the bathroom and took a deep breath. It was exhausting, being the bigger person. He understood why he didn’t do it more often. A freshman walked by and he shoved him into a small group of other freshmen and laughed when they all hit the lockers and dramatically crumpled over each other.

Life was about balance, anyway, wasn’t it?

As he got into his car, his passenger’s side opened and Josie slid into the seat, beaming at him.

“I’m really happy you’re my gay best friend.” Reggie rolled his eyes and drove off.

-

Reggie got a summer job as a car mechanic. His hands were eternally greasy and he was eternally sweaty, but for the first time in his teen life, he felt genuine happiness. He wasn’t out to his family, or the public, but the group that had become his core group of friends were more than happy to welcome him with open arms. 

Reggie quickly found out just how sexual his new friends were. He often found himself sitting in the living room of one of their houses as Archie, Veronica, Jughead, and Betty paired off and disappeared while he texted around on his phone, and a few minutes later, he’d hear them fucking in various rooms of the house. He’d still be there when they returned though, sometimes with food, sometimes with beer, always judgemental.

“Fuck on your own time. This is my time for socializing, you pieces of shit.”

-

Even though he had wanted to back out, Reggie took the whole week off to spend it with the gang at Veronica’s family cabin. 

He wanted to back out because Kevin was going, and while he frequently saw the other four, he very rarely saw Kevin. Now he was stuck with him for an entire week in a cabin with two couples that had very little self-control.

“It’s going to be a disaster,” Reggie said dryly as he laid flat on his back on his floor, staring at his ceiling. Moose, leaning against the door with his arms crossed, rolled his eyes at him and shook his head.

“I thought you two were _friends_ now, Reg.”

“We are,” Reggie said, furrowing his brows.

“Then what’s the problem?”

Reggie lolled his head to the side and stared at Moose for a few seconds, silent, then he sighed and sat up as his phone buzzed.

**_kevin keller_**  
hi, can you pick me up? jughead’s taking his bike and v and arch are prob gonna stop like 7 times to fuck on their way to the cabin.

**_reggie mantle_**  
ok sure

He tossed his phone away and looked back up at Moose.

“Whatever, come here and suck my dick. I can’t stop thinking about Veronica in a hot tub.”

“My favorite thing about you is your lack of foreplay,” Moose said sarcastically as he uncrossed his arms and pushed off from the door. “Who needs foreplay? Just a waste of time.”

After Moose left, Reggie started packing his bag. He shoved some clothes into his duffel, along with the essentials, and he headed down the stairs, looking into his dad’s office.

“I’m gone for the week,” he called out from the doorway. His dad grunted as he scanned a paper he was reading. “Dad?”

“I heard you, Reggie.”

Reggie hung back for a few more seconds before turning around to find his mom. He hugged her and rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Don’t mind your father, he’s just mad you took a job with the garage instead of his company,” she said, pulling back and framing his face with her hands. “Have a wonderful week, darling.” Reggie smiled and hoisted his bag over his shoulder and headed for his car. Kevin was already waiting outside as he pulled up at the Keller house, and he gave Reggie a big smile as he made his way over. Reggie got out of the car and opened the trunk, his nerves already working him over. Kevin shoved his bag in the trunk and turned around to hug Reggie.

“How are you?” he asked, and Reggie gave him one squeeze before letting him go.

“Good. Stoked to just get outta here for a week,” he replied. He smiled before putting his sunglasses on and climbed back into the car. “I thought you were bringing Fangs up to the cabin.”

“I wanted to. He’s got something going on with Sweet Pea and Toni, though. We’ve spent a lot of the summer together, so it’s cool to take a week for other people,” Kevin said, buckling in.

“So… it’s just us and the horn dogs.”

“Is that okay? I honestly thought you were going to bring Moose, or maybe you had started seeing someone, or like –“

“It’s okay,” Reggie interrupted. “No, it’s gonna be good. We’ll be great.” He reached over and turned the radio on as the two fell into a strange silence.

Reggie couldn’t remember the last time he and Kevin had been in each other’s company for an extended period of time without having something to do. They never went on any road trips, they never went on any dates, there were just nights where they pulled up at the side of the road to make out, messed around in each other’s rooms as quietly as they could, couldn’t keep their hands off each other the few times they actually got out of Riverdale with Moose.

They didn’t have any memories to reminisce on, not really. Just each other.

“What have you been doing with your summer?” Reggie asked, breaking their quiet, and Kevin went on a spiel about how he was volunteering at the station with his dad, wondering if law enforcement was in his future, or if he should leave the city for college. “What would you take? What do you wanna do?” Reggie asked, furrowing his brows.

“I honestly don’t know,” Kevin said, crossing one leg over his other and leaning back in the comfy seat, staring at the winding road ahead of them. “I guess I have one more year to figure that out though, don’t I?”

“You’ve got longer than that, I think. I’m only going the football route at this point because it’ll get me out of town faster. You’ll figure it out,” Reggie said with a soft smile, and Kevin smiled back.

“I see you at Locals Garage sometimes, when I’m driving by,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Mechanic life looks good on you.”

“You like my face better when you see less of it, huh? Covered in grease and oil and shit?”

Kevin laughed and shook his head, and so began an easy conversation on their way up to the cabin. On the last turn off the highway, they spotted Archie’s car with the windows steamed up, and they rolled their windows down and started shouting at them as they drove by.

When they pulled up, Jughead and Betty were unloading the bike looking perplexed as hell.

“What is it?” Kevin asked as he got out of the car, and Betty furrowed her brows, looking off to the distance.

“Archie and V left before us. They should be here by now.”

Reggie and Kevin exchanged looks and burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny! The last time we were here, somebody robbed us!”

“I’d rob this place,” Reggie said honestly, looking around. “So many windows. So many doors. Big, flashy, vacant for the majority of the year. I’d rob it for sure. So much bad shit has happened to you guys, huh?” 

Betty and Jughead looked at Reggie incredulously and Kevin smacked him in the chest. 

“Ow, sorry.”

Reggie unloaded his car of his and Kevin’s things and set them down by the door as they waited for Archie and Veronica to get there. Kevin wandered off with Betty and Reggie looked to where Jughead was sitting before sighing and walking over to him, plopping himself down beside him. They were quiet for a few moments before Reggie opened his mouth.

“Jughead –“

“Reggie, we really don’t have to do this.”

“Great.”

The two sat in silence, their eyes swiveling everywhere but at each other. How did Reggie’s life turn out like this, he wondered? Normally by this time, he’d have been invited to all the hot pool parties of the summer, hooking up with seniors and freshman college chicks, or overseas on a family vacation sleeping with random dudes.

Instead, he was on a couples’ trip with his ex-whatever-it-was and his enemies-turned-friends. He had actually _turned down_ several parties. To _work_. And had no interest in going on a beach vacation with his parents.

Who… had he become?

“Huh,” Reggie said to himself as he pondered his life, and then stood up when Archie and Veronica finally pulled in. “How many times did you two stop to fuck? Kevin and I had you pegged at 7.”

“Funny,” Veronica said, rolling her eyes, and Archie disappeared in the trunk as he dug out all of her bags. She went to unlock the door and smiled at Reggie. “Welcome to Lodge Lodge.”

“That’s corny as shit, Ronnie. Thank you, though.” 

Veronica rolled her eyes again and stepped out of the way as Jughead, Archie, and Reggie started carrying all the bags in. Reggie looked around, lost, as the other two headed up the stairs to find their rooms, and Kevin appeared by his side.

“Um, V, where are the other rooms?” Kevin asked, reaching for his bag on Reggie’s shoulder, and Veronica quickly pointed them out on the other side of the living room before heading up the stairs with Betty. “Oh, side by side, good.”

Reggie laughed, because _of course_ , and picked the room that Kevin didn’t. He dumped his bag and organized the room before heading out to the living room. He looked around the cabin and cocked an eyebrow at the bar before making a bee-line for it to make himself a stiff drink. He smelled the various bottles of whiskey the Lodges kept and found one he liked, pouring it into a tumbler over two cubes of ice. He let it chill for a moment before taking a sip and immediately felt the warmth of it.

“You wanna make me one too?” Kevin asked as he sat at the bar.

“You got it.” Reggie prepared Kevin another whiskey on the rocks and slid it to him.

“Ooh. Do you have a future as a bartender?” 

“I sure fucking hope not,” Reggie said with a grin, and he came around the bar to sit down on the stool next to Kevin, sipping his whiskey. “Remember that bartender in Greendale? My first time I went?”

“Oh, Chris, the one with the assless chaps?”

“That’s the one.”

“Crazy Chris. He’s always got his ass out, man,” Kevin mused as he tilted his tumbler back and forth before bringing it up to his lips. “He’s single.” He wriggled his brows at Reggie.

“You are not hooking me up with the assless chaps dude from the gay club. That’s too much. I’m not ready for assless chaps yet, Kevin.”

“So, what, you’re looking for like, another dude bro? Someone buff? Someone as obsessed with their body as you?”

“I’m not looking,” Reggie laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “Look, it’s like – my year got flipped upside down, you know? I need to just make sure _I’m_ stable first before I do anything. It wrecked me, losing you, but at least it kicked my ass into gear.” The smile faded from Kevin’s face and Reggie made a face before looking down at his whiskey. “Don’t look at me like that, man, it is what it is. I’m still figuring out who I am and you know who you are, so you go ahead and do your shit. And when the fuck did you and Josie get so close?”

Kevin stared at Reggie.

“Our parents have been dating for the last year and a half, Reggie.”

“What? For real?”

“Yeah, it was a pretty big thing.”

“Shit.”

Above them, they heard the unmistakable _thump_ of a couple getting it on. And then there were two sets of patterns. Reggie reached for a bag of chips and tore it open, setting it on the bar. He and Kevin munched on them while staring up at the ceiling.

“V and Archie for sure,” Reggie said, pointing up at the left side, and Kevin furrowed his brows.

“Are you guessing? How do you know?”

“Well, Archie’s in top shape, you know? I should know, he’s my constant competition on the field and in the gym. Jughead, on the other hand, eats so many fucking burgers, never works out – that’s definitely the sound of a low-stamina fuck. Just listen.” He pointed at the right side, the source of the softer, more spaced-out thumps. He cracked a grin at Kevin, and Kevin burst out laughing.


	10. Chapter 10

It wasn’t as bad as Reggie thought it was going to be, the cabin getaway with the gang. They spent their days hiking through the woods together and doing stupid shit, getting drunk and smoking pot. Reggie realized how badly the other five had needed this, just a normal summer with no murders, no creeps, no inappropriate relationships with teachers (Reggie spluttered his beer all over Jughead when he found out about Archie and Ms. Grundy), just being the kids they were supposed to be, and he was determined to keep it as normal as possible.

He was opening up and letting people in. He loved the boys on his football team, on his basketball team, but there came a kind of expectation when it came to them that Reggie could only blame on himself. The persona he had whipped up for himself at an early age, the Alpha Dog, Reggie Mantle the Magnificent. 

He didn’t have to be him with any of them.

On the third day, the moment he came down from his high, he ventured out of the house to chop up some firewood with Kevin. The sun was beginning to set, it was getting a little colder, and it was time to warm up the lodge with a good, man-made fire rather than the fancy heating system they had installed throughout the cabin.

“Chop wood often?” Kevin asked, watching Reggie as he swung the axe up by his head, then down the middle of the wood. Reggie huffed out a laugh and knocked the wood down, making a pile, and placed another piece up on top of the stump.

“I used to go camping with the Andrews and Jones family,” he said. “My dad was busy working on his – car empire, whatever you wanna call it. I did summer camps and shit, but you know, I always got myself into trouble when there were people I wanted to impress. And in summer camp, I just wanted to impress _everyone_. I’d get back from summer camp, get reamed out by my dad for being a jackass, and then I’d run away to Archie’s. We’d go camping the next day. Three years in a row.” He let out a laugh as he remembered it. “We were like, five. We didn’t know how to camp, but the concept of it kind of stuck with me, and the moment I could start going on my own, I did.”

“I don’t remember camping,” Kevin said, knitting his eyebrows together.

“Before your time, Keller.” Reggie grunted and chopped more wood. “I told you, I stopped being friends with Archie when you and Betty came around.”

“Why is that?” Reggie walked away to put the axe back in the shed and locked it up before collecting the pile of firewood, heading back to the house. “Hey, Reg, why?”

“Because when you’re an attention-deprived kid, you latch onto anyone that gives you it, and Archie gave me a lot of attention. And then he didn’t, and as a poorly-adjusted child, I didn’t take it very well.” Reggie tossed the firewood under the cover and picked out a few logs. “You guys were the worst thing to happen to eight-year-old me.” He disappeared inside the house as Kevin absorbed everything, then he poked his head back out. “But I think you guys are also the best thing to happen to me now, so, maybe it’s balanced out, you know?”

They shared a smile, and Kevin followed him in.

Once Reggie got the fire going, he sat back on the couch and started rolling the joints for the evening. Kevin went to the bar and cracked open a couple beers, and he handed one to Reggie, keeping the other one for himself. He took his laptop out and curled up beside him on the couch, opening up his blog and starting to type.

“Ooh, goodies,” Archie commented as he walked by, eyeing Reggie’s paper work, and he set himself up by the fire with his guitar, Veronica in tow. “We just wrote a song.”

“You stopped having sex long enough to write a song? Amazing,” Reggie said, deadpan. He lit one of the joints and took a long hit from it before passing it to Kevin. Betty and Jughead returned from the grocery store and went straight to the kitchen to get dinner prepared.

He let the haze of the weed cloud his brain and he looked around at Betty and Jughead in the kitchen, then diverted his gaze to Archie and Veronica, in their own world, Archie’s fingers flying along the fretboard as Veronica sang along. His eyes settled on Kevin, who he found to be looking back at him.

“What’re you thinking about?” Kevin asked, passing the joint back to him and Reggie shrugged. 

“You guys are my people now. “It’s weird. It’s nice.”

“We’re good people to have,” Kevin humored him with a nod of his head. “Reggie, you’re stoned.”

“God, I know.”

Kevin sat up and moved closer, their knees bumping together. Reggie smiled and let himself lean into Kevin a bit, who, after a moment’s hesitation, draped his arm around his shoulders.

“Play with my hair,” Reggie said, and there was another pause before Kevin slid his fingers through Reggie’s hair, massaging into his scalp. Reggie let out a quiet noise of contentment and closed his eyes, relaxing. He listened to Archie playing guitar, Veronica’s quiet singing, the clang and sizzle from the kitchen, Kevin’s steady breathing.

“I’m sorry we took Archie away from you,” Kevin said softly. “Even though it was years ago, I’m sorry.”

“Shit happens,” Reggie replied, then let several seconds pass between them before he sat up again, pulling away slightly. “Thank you, though.” He forced himself to stand up and walk away, passing the joint over to Archie by the fire, then went to do what he truly loved the most: annoy Jughead as the other wielded knives.

-

After dinner and a poor attempt at baking a cake, they all sat in a circle around bottles of wine and their half-baked creation, five forks scattered around it.

“Wanna play a game?” Veronica asked, holding an empty bottle mischievously.

“No,” Jughead, Betty, and Archie said at the same time.

“Fuck you guys in relationships. If it’s spin the bottle, I wanna play a fucking game,” Reggie said, smacking his hand on the floor. “Someone kiss me. Any of you. Not you,” he added, pointing at Kevin, who made a face back at him. “You had your chance, bitch. Not you, either.” He pointed at Jughead. “Sorry, bro, you’re just not my type.”

“You’re only accepting kisses from Archie, Betty, and Veronica?” Kevin asked, amused.

“That’s right.”

They all laughed and Veronica moved the cake to place the bottle in the middle of the circle.

“It’s fine, right? We’re all good friends,” she said with a wave of her hand. She spun the bottle and they all watched as it went around, and around, until it landed on Betty.

“Oh,” Archie breathed out, and Jughead looked at Betty expectantly. Kevin’s brows rose and Reggie, admittedly, did get a boner.

Just popped a halfie on the spot.

He was second guessing his gayness, probably pre-maturely labelled himself. He was definitely bi. 

Veronica crawled towards Betty, framed her face in her hands, and leaned down to plant one on her lips.

“Nothing we haven’t done before,” she said brightly as she pulled away, and she crawled into Archie’s lap and started kissing him.

Betty spun the bottle, and it landed on Jughead. Spun the bottle, landed on Archie, much to everyone’s amusement. Archie spun the bottle, and it landed on Kevin, and then back to Archie, and then finally, on Reggie.

“Come here, big boy!” Reggie exclaimed. Archie groaned and leaned over.

“Just a peck,” he said.

“Sure,” Reggie said. As the got closer, Reggie stuck his tongue out and licked over Archie’s mouth as everyone whooped and hollered. Archie pulled back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Ugh, so fucking gross, man,” he laughed, and then Reggie reached over to spin the bottle.

Reggie kissed Veronica, Veronica kissed Kevin, Kevin kissed Betty, Betty kissed Reggie, and then, the bottle landed on Kevin.

They looked at each other and Reggie opened his mouth, then shut it.

“You can spin again,” Kevin said.

“No, he can’t,” Archie said. “We don’t write the rules here. You gotta kiss.” Reggie swallowed hard and took a gulp from his wine, avoiding eye contact with Kevin, then he started scooting over.

“Quick one,” Kevin said, and Reggie nodded in agreement. Reggie leaned in as Kevin did, their eyes meeting just before their lips did, then they fluttered shut.

Warmth spread through Reggie’s body and he leaned further, pressing his lips more sure against Kevin’s, and Kevin kissed him back. Reggie brought one hand up to his cheek, curling his thumb over his jaw, feeling that stubble he missed so much. Kevin finally broke the kiss and leaned back.

“Quick one, just real quick,” he repeated, his ears pink, his cheeks flushed. Reggie wanted to kiss his stupid rosy cheeks, too. However, he remembered where they were, and he looked at the other four, who were all looking back at them. Archie’s lips were parted, dumbfounded, Jughead was looking generally unimpressed, Betty had a hand over her heart, and Veronica was covering her mouth.

“I think we’re done,” Reggie said, clearing his throat, and he stood up, bringing the cake and the empty bottle to the kitchen. He went to the bar to make himself something stronger to numb whatever the fuck it was that he had just felt, kissing Kevin, and he downed a shot of vodka while he was at it. 

He was trashed in no time, but all of them were. Nobody was playing the role of Adult that night, making sure everyone had water and carbs before bed, so they all slowly made their separate ways to their bedrooms. Reggie wasn’t tired yet, he was antsy. He got up to his feet and went outside, took his clothes off, and got in the hot tub. He lit another joint and closed his eyes, enjoying the sound of crickets around him, the warmth of the water, the feeling of floating away. There was a splash beside him and he opened his eyes to see Kevin in the tub beside him.

“I’m so naked right now,” he admitted right off the bat, and Kevin’s eyes widened as he stared at the water in front of them, then back up at Reggie.

“Do you – should I go?”

“I don’t fuckin’ know. Stay, you’re already in,” Reggie laughed, and he handed Kevin the joint. They smoked in silence and Reggie rolled his head around, cracking his neck, and he sunk deeper into the tub, his chin hitting the water as he watched Kevin. “You’re always stupid hot when you smoke,” he said with a frown. “Sheriff’s son doing illegal shit.”

“It’s gonna be legalized any day now,” Kevin said, ignoring the compliment, and he passed it back to Reggie, who hummed in agreement as he placed the joint between his lips.

They fell quiet again, but Reggie wasn’t as relaxed as he had been before Kevin got into the tub, and Kevin wasn’t relaxed, either. He kept moving, taking his hands out of the water before dunking them back in, making noise. Reggie couldn’t take the tension anymore.

“Kiss me,” he said, flicking the roach away, and Kevin surged forward and caught Reggie’s lips between his. His knees settled on either side of Reggie’s thighs, straddling his lap, and Reggie’s hands slid down his bare sides to rest around his waist, pulling him tight against him as they made out, loud, wet, and desperate. 

Reggie squeezed Kevin until he parted his lips and pulled back to gasp, and Reggie licked into his mouth, kissing him deeper, kissing him harder, dragging his tongue along his. Kevin’s hands caressed the front of Reggie’s chest before moving further down, wrapping around the base of his cock.

“Be sure,” Reggie breathed out when he broke the kiss, looking up at Kevin, one of his hands curling around his wrist to stop him. “Be sure you wanna do this.”

“I’m sure,” Kevin said, lightning fast, his lips pressing against Reggie’s. “I wanna.”

Reggie uncurled his hand from Kevin’s wrist and Kevin jerked him off under the water. When Reggie’s tilted his head back to let out a quiet moan, Kevin’s mouth found his pulse and he sucked and licked over it before dragging his tongue down to his collarbone and shoulder, kissing the skin there.

“Get these off,” Reggie grunted, pushing Kevin’s trunks down, and they floated away beside them as Kevin got on top of him again, their dicks pressed together between their stomachs. Kevin grinded, pushing hard to get more friction between them, loving the way Reggie looked at him, loving the way Reggie was so hard for him.

“Do you think about me when you jerk yourself off?” he panted in his ear, sucking on his earlobe, and Reggie made a guttural sound in response. “I still think about you. I think about all those times I’ve blown you in the back of your car, the taste of your cum. I think about that time my dad came home, but you were so horny for me, you couldn’t keep your hands off of me. And you fucked me so hard, and you had one hand around my neck and the other covering my mouth to keep me quiet, and even though I came so fast, you kept fucking me.”

“Nobody fucks you like I fuck you,” Reggie murmured, gripping onto Kevin’s hips, digging his fingers into him. “I think about you every time. I think about eating you out,” he breathed out, and Kevin stopped, his eyes wide, looking down at Reggie, his hands coming up to his neck, thumbs brushing over his jaw and chin.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me.” He started slowly gyrating his hips, driving Reggie absolutely insane.

“Having you on all fours, your tight ass straight up in the air for me. I’d lick you out, press my tongue against you, spread your cheeks apart, get you wet for my cock. I bet you’d like it so much, your dick’ll be leaking, and you’d be a moaning, open, slutty mess for me.”

“I would. I’d let you do anything to me, treat me however you want.”

“Such a good boy, my good boy.”

“All yours, baby,” Kevin moaned, and Reggie saw white before he came and Kevin quickly followed, his chest pressed against Reggie’s, his face buried against his neck. They stayed still for a while, panting, wrapped up around each other, Kevin pressing soft kisses to Reggie’s neck, any bit of bare skin he could find.

The timer on the hot tub turned the jets off, and they both sat up a bit and looked around. Reggie made to get up, but before he did, Kevin cupped his face in his hands and kissed him deeply. They wordlessly got out of the tub and dried off before going inside. They avoided eye contact as they went back to their rooms, and Reggie laid on his back and stared at his ceiling. He turned his head to look at the wall separating him and Kevin and knocked on it lightly. He heard a light knock come back.  
He was half asleep when he heard his door open and felt his bed dip as Kevin crawled in with him and curled himself around him.

-

Reggie watched, amused, as Archie and Jughead soaked in the hot tub the next morning, and Kevin groaned and went to throw up.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's almost DONE >:)

_”I love it when you kiss me like that.”_

Reggie heard that more times than he could count over the course of the next four days. He kissed Kevin in the pool, passionate and wanting. In the forest, soft and sweet. In the kitchen, with Kevin’s legs wrapped tight around his waist as he propped him up on the counter.

Never around the others, never while they were awake, and it was never something that either of them _meant_ to happen.

But Reggie was drunk half the time, and Kevin was so into the fact that Reggie was showing himself to other people. All it seemed to take was a look and later that night, they’d be tangled around each other in one of their rooms.

Consumed by Kevin, the last of the vacation went by in a blur and Reggie was soon driving him back into the city to drop him off at his house. They travelled in silence, the radio on low in the background, Kevin’s hand turned palm side up between their seats as he gazed out the window. He kept it there for the whole car ride and once they entered Riverdale, he sighed.

“Don’t make me feel like an idiot,” he said, still facing the window, and Reggie hesitated before letting his hand settle on top of his. Kevin immediately laced their fingers together and squeezed hard, then brought Reggie’s hand up to his lips and pressed a light kiss to the back of it.

Reggie squeezed Kevin’s hand and let go, bringing both his hands onto the steering wheel to make the final turn. He parked in front of the house and Kevin got out of the car, going around to the trunk to grab his things. Reggie watched as he went to his front porch, dropped his things down, and then came back to the car. Reggie turned off the engine and rolled the window down.

“I had fun,” Kevin said after the two of them stared at each other for a moment.

“Me, too,” Reggie said back.

They fell quiet again, waiting for the other to say something else, anything else. They broke eye contact when they heard the roar of a bike heading up the street and Fangs pulled up, parking in front of Reggie’s car. He hopped off his bike and Reggie watched as he went around, giving Kevin a kiss, and then he leaned in through the window.

“Thanks for bringing him back home safe,” he said, his arm around Kevin’s waist.

“Yeah, any time,” Reggie said, starting up his car again. He rolled his window up the moment Kevin backed away from the car and he drove off, feeling like he couldn’t quite breathe properly. Once he was back in his garage, he closed his eyes and sighed, resting his head on the top of the steering wheel. When he finally got into his house, it was empty. He got back in his car to go anywhere else.

He found himself driving towards Fox Forest and he parked his car in the parking lot where it all fucking began. The sun was setting. Reggie waited until it was dark before getting out of his car, and he walked through the forest until he found a bench to sit on. He plugged his earbuds in and listened to music and watched various guys pass him over the course of the evening, then one of them sat down beside him. Reggie barely waited for a greeting before pulling him closer and crushing their lips together.

-

His name was Matthieu, and the only thing Reggie bothered to find out about him was that he was a French student that was studying in Riverdale for summer break.

Blonde haired, blue eyed, strong jawed, and pretty. Perfect for distraction and 2am booty calls.

Reggie ended their fuck-streak when he rolled into Pop’s one day, while Reggie was sitting with Archie, Betty, and Veronica, and tried to slide into the booth beside him.

“Sorry, what’s going on here? Don’t touch my milkshake,” Reggie said as Matthieu reached for his milkshake and licked the whipped cream before tilting the cup past his lips. Arch, Betty, and V watched on with great interest.

“What? We’ve been fucking for a month and I can’t have some of your milkshake?” Matthieu asked, confused, wiping the whipped cream from his stupid pretty face. Reggie blinked at him incredulously.

“Do you think I call you past midnight to… know you, or something?”

“I don’t understand,” Matthieu said.

“Dude.” This was so awkward. “I don’t wanna know you. I just wanna fuck you. I don’t want you hanging out with me and my friends, man, what are you doing?”

Veronica’s jaw dropped and Betty stared at Reggie, wide-eyed, while Archie’s eyes darted back and forth between them, eating his fries. Matthieu opened his mouth, then closed it, and repeated it several times before standing up and walking away.

“Delete my number, _s’il vous plait_.”

“Already am,” Reggie called after him, his phone already in his hand. “Jeeze. Bitch couldn’t use a straw?” he muttered to himself as he deleted him from his phone. The bell on the door rang as Matthieu left, and then it went off a second time as Kevin and Fangs came in, hand in hand.

“There’s an angry French kid trashing your car,” Kevin said to Reggie, pointing in the direction of the parking lot.

“Is it cosmetic or mechanical damage?”

“Looked purely cosmetic, but he was still going.”

“Eh.”

Fangs pulled up a chair for Kevin to sit, then kissed his cheek and said something about leaving to do something. Reggie wasn’t paying attention.

“Who’s the French kid?” Kevin asked once Fangs left, and he reached for Reggie’s milkshake and took a sip from it.

“Some guy I hooked up with that doesn’t know hooking up protocol,” Reggie said, pocketing his phone, and he watched, amused, as Kevin choked on his shake.  
“I _know_ , right? Reggie hooked up with a guy in _Riverdale_ ,” Veronica said, raising an eyebrow at him. “Reginald, I do believe you’re growing up.”

Reggie reached around Kevin and smacked on his back as he coughed and spluttered.

“Interesting,” Kevin said once he recovered, and he continued to sip on the shake. Betty and Veronica exchanged glances before diving into a conversation. Once again, Reggie wasn’t paying attention. He let his hand rest on Kevin’s shoulder and squeezed once before retracting his arm, then turned to Archie.

“So football training –“

“No!” Betty, Veronica, and Kevin all shouted at him.

-

Reggie wasn’t like Kevin or Jughead, keeping their birthdays on the down low. The moment he found out that his parents would be away on business throughout August, the invitations went out. He hired a maid to clean up the space and to put all the valuables away and hired a pool guy to clean and maintain the outdoor pool in his backyard. He let Moose handle the alcohol and food while he sat back and relaxed in the sun with a cold beer.

When Moose came back, he finally got his ass out of his seat and went to help him set up and put the keg on ice.

“You excited?” Moose asked as they took a step back to look at their handiwork, and Reggie shrugged his shoulders.

“Just another birthday,” he said as he crushed his beer can and tossed it in the recycling bin, because he was no monster, and he went to the kitchen to get another one. Moose followed him and leaned against the island counter, uncharacteristically quiet. “What’s up, man?” Reggie finally asked after ten silent minutes of texting.

Moose sighed and his shoulders sagged as he bowed his head, dropping from his hands to his forearms as he leant further on the surface.

“Kevin told me about the cabin.”

“It’s a nice cabin, right?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Reggie threw his hands up in the air.

“What do you want me to say, dude? I can’t help it. We had too much alone time and too many drinks and he’s just – he’s just like – “

“I know,” Moose said, straightening up and walking around the counter to get a beer for himself. “I just want you to be careful. With yourself. You’re getting all caught up with someone you aren’t even with – who has a boyfriend that isn’t you – and no offence, but you’re kind of a loose cannon, and I’m terrified to see what you’re like with a broken heart.”

“Broken heart?” Reggie repeated, cocking an eyebrow. “The fuck do you think I am?”

“I think you’re my best friend that’s in love with a guy who is with someone that isn’t you.”

“I’m not in love,” Reggie said, picking up his beer. “I don’t even know – I don’t know what that feels like.” He avoided Moose’s sympathetic gaze and headed up to his room to get ready. 

Reggie took a shower and took his time to rub one out, then washed up and hopped out, wrapping a towel around himself. He heard the doorbell go off, signifying the first guests, and he started going through his closet to find something to wear.

Black denim, black button-up, easy. He rolled the hem on the short sleeves before working on his hair, slicking it up, then slicking it back. He puttered around his room a little bit longer, watching people pile out of their cars out back, and he nodded his head at himself in the mirror.

“King of Riverdale High. Let’s fucking go.”

He left his room and started down the stairs, alarmed by how many people were already there, and he put on a smile as he went through the crowds, giving people high fives and thanking them for coming. Moose found him and pushed a drink into his hand before leading him outside, where the football guys were congregating.

“Ay Mantle!”

“O captain, my captain!”

“Boss!”

Reggie grinned and clasped hands with all his bros before sitting down.

“Where the fuck have you been this summer?” one of them asked, and Reggie rolled his eyes as he took a sip of beer.

“Working, can you fucking believe it?”

Reggie was drunk by 11pm and had his shirt buttoned halfway down by 11:30. He’d lost count of the familiar and unfamiliar faces around his house and yard. He was barely paying attention to the people coming and going, but it felt like a scene out of a fucking corny-ass romcom when the door opened and Kevin walked in with a heavenly white light surrounding him, angels harmonizing in the background. Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Jughead were there too, but honestly, who cared?

Reggie’s attention was immediately on Kevin and he watched, frozen in place as Kevin looked around while pushing through the crowds. When his gaze fell on Reggie, he gave him a warm smile, and Reggie swallowed thickly.

“How’s it going, birthday boy?” Kevin asked, bumping shoulders with him. He was dressed in khaki-colored skinny jeans and a denim button-up and he looked cute as hell.

“S’going,” Reggie said, slurring slightly, and he smiled, his hands coming up to the collar of Kevin’s shirt, tugging lightly before patting him on the chest. “You look cute.”

Kevin laughed and he gently pushed Reggie’s hand down.

“You’re very drunk,” he stated, and all Reggie could do was nod.

“Yep.”

“Let’s get you some water.”

“Okay.”

Reggie sat down on the bar stool in the kitchen while Kevin went to get him some water, and he sipped on it while watching him putter around, starting to collect cups and cans.  
“We can just hire someone to do that tomorrow,” Reggie said, rubbing at his eyes. “You don’t have to do that right now. People’re just gonna mess it up again.” He eyed Kevin as the other opened his mouth to argue, then he sighed and dropped the plastic bag near the sink and grabbed himself a beer. He sat down beside Reggie at the counter and Reggie folded his arms on the table surface, resting his head in the cradle of them as he looked up at him. “You’re late, you know. I’ve been waiting for you all night.” 

Kevin’s eyes met Reggie’s, big, brown, earnest, then the door burst open and a group of loud people Reggie only half-recognized ransacked his fridge and freezer and disappeared back outside.

“It’s getting a little bit out of hand,” Kevin said, squinting, and Reggie shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

“Yep.”

“We should probably go outside.”

“Okay.”

Truth be told, Reggie couldn’t be normal around Kevin, plain and simple. Up until their week vacation, things were fine. He was in his place, and Kevin was in his, but that week opened up a flood of _could we happen again?_ ’s in Reggie’s brain, and he couldn’t think of anything else, despite the month they'd spent barely seeing each other. He certainly couldn’t say anything he wanted to, so, while he couldn’t trust himself under the influence of however many beers he’d just drank, he kept his dialogue short and sweet.

“You wanna play a round of beer pong?” he suddenly asked Kevin once they got outside, and Kevin looked over to the ping pong table surrounded by football players.

“Uh, I don’t know,” he said, and Reggie gave him a look. “Okay, one round. I’ve never played before, though.”

“Don’t sweat it, Keller, you’re gonna be teamed up with the Riverdale Beer Pong Master.” He flexed one arm and kissed his bicep before sauntering over to the ping pong table, ignoring Kevin’s deep sigh. “I’ve got next!” he exclaimed, smacking his hand down on the table, and the guys side-eyed Kevin, who stood a foot behind Reggie. “What, you got a problem?”

“You know how to play beer pong, princess?” one of the guys asked as he tossed a ping pong ball in the air and sunk it one of the opposing cups. 

“You fondle some balls and shoot ‘em into the hole,” another guy said, and a rumble of laughter rippled through the crowd. Kevin made a face.

“Will you ever realize that the things you say to make fun of gay people are way gayer than anything I will say? Ever? In my life?”

“Lay off of him, guys, come on. He’ll be on my team.” Reggie pushed one of the guys out of the way, despite their game not being over yet.

“Damn, Reg, going soft?” Chuck Clayton asked, amused as he drank his beer, and Reggie turned to look at him.

“Maybe I’m just growing up a bit, Chuck. Lay off of him and get him some fucking beer.” He tossed some red cups at Chuck and turned back around to explain the game to Kevin, who was staring at him with wide eyes, like he was seeing him for the first time. “It’s an easy concept, man, just. Take the ball, toss it, aim for a cup of beer. If it lands in the cup, they drink it, and vice versa. If it circles around, you can lean down and try to blow it out of the cup.”

“I’m good at blowing,” Kevin said with a straight face and a few of the guys around them murmured, uncomfortable. Reggie blinked before leaning over.

“You can’t reject their gay comments and then make them for yourself directly in front of them, Kevin, it’s just too easy,” he whispered, and Kevin nodded his head.

“You’re right. Got it.”

“I’m glad we had this talk. Let’s fucking go,” Reggie said, his voice returning to full volume, and Kevin watched as their cups were returned half-full, amazed at the power of authority Reggie had over these big, burly football studs.

Kevin sucked. Reggie was annoyingly good.

Reggie was also increasingly aware of the tension from everyone else surrounding them. He stuck his tongue out a little as he focused, aiming with the ping pong ball, and arced it through the air, sinking it into the last cup.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, arms in the air, and Kevin high-fived him, and Reggie’s arm fell around his back as he pulled him against his side, giving the opposing team the middle finger. He could see Moose in his peripherals, watching them with a smile on his face.

Whatever happened next happened so fast that Reggie couldn’t tell what was going on. He felt Kevin ripped away from him and there was a splash and he was suddenly in the pool. He resurfaced, drawing in a big breath, and floated there in shock.

“Know your place, theater fag!” Reggie heard someone say, and he felt white hot rage surge through him.

“Reggie,” he could hear Moose say amidst the laughing and the gasping, but Reggie was already reaching for him – a sophomore, Reggie could tell, smaller in stature, spiky blond hair, didn’t even know his fucking name. He grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around, and punched him hard across the face, sending him dropping into the pool.

“Come here,” he said, ignoring the pain shooting through his hand, and he got on his knees, reaching for Kevin’s hand with his good one. He pulled Kevin up onto his feet and hurried back to the house. “Get these clowns out of here, man,” he said to Moose as he passed by, who nodded his head and cracked his knuckles.

Kevin shivered, dripped, and slid all over the house, tracking chlorine water onto the hardwood flooring. Reggie heard the music come to a halt, and Moose’s booming voice telling people the party was over.

“I’m sorry,” Reggie blurted out as he swung his linen closet open and grabbed some towels out. “They’re jerks, and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Kevin said, towel drying his hair as he stood in the hallway. Reggie opened the door to his room and went through his clothes until he settled on his letterman. Kevin peeled his shirt off and Reggie draped the jacket over him before folding the sides in over each other, brows furrowed, apology written all over his face. Kevin rested his hands over Reggie’s and squeezed. “Reggie, it’s okay.”

Reggie winced, and Kevin's eyes went wide and he looked down at Reggie's bruising hand. "Shit. You need to ice that, Reg." Reggie refused to look at him, coming down from his drunken state, and he let go of the jacket, letting Kevin hold it around himself.

“You – you need pants, or something,” Reggie said, turning around and going through his closet. He found a pair of sweatpants and handed it to Kevin, who wriggled out of his wet jeans and underwear. Reggie turned away as Kevin pulled on the sweats and disappeared into the bathroom. Kevin sat at Reggie’s study desk, wrapped up in his jacket, and he looked out the window as cars began peeling out of the driveway in the back and away from the house.

Reggie splashed water on his face to sober himself up and slicked it back into his hair, staring at himself in the mirror.

He couldn’t believe that he had been like the other jocks. Not as a phase, but as a lifestyle, as a true personality, all because he had cared about popularity above all else.

It made him feel sick.

He swallowed back the sickness he suddenly felt and grabbed his laundry hamper before going back into his room, holding it out for Kevin’s things.

“You know how to do laundry?” Kevin asked, cracking a joke, and Reggie let out a soft laugh, snatching Kevin’s wet clothes from his hands.

“Is that any way to talk to the dude helping you in your time of need?”

“Your clothes are so big,” Kevin said, looking down at the sweatpants hanging off of him, and at the sleeves of the jacket, the cuffs well past his hands.

“They look good on you.”

Kevin’s cheeks flushed and his ears turned pink as warmth spread through him.

“Reggie.”

“Sorry, I’ll be right back. Don’t – don’t go anywhere.”

He hurried down the stairs to the basement to throw Kevin’s things in the wash, trying to swallow down his heart that had leapt up into his throat. He sat down on the couch in the basement suite, trying to calm his nerves, trying to sober up, trying to not do anything that his insides were screaming at him to do.

All he could think about was Kevin in his clothes, in any scenario. Standing in the bleachers, watching him on the football field, wearing his letterman jacket proudly. ‘MANTLE’ on the back of his hoodie as he cheered Reggie on as he played basketball. Sleepy, late mornings, curled up in too-big shirts and cozy sweatpants.

A future full of waking up to Kevin in his t-shirts.

When Moose found him, he was curled up on the couch, staring listlessly at the blank TV in front of him.

“Reggie, Kevin’s looking for you,” he said softly, hovering by the bottom of the stairs.

“I want him so bad that it fucking hurts,” Reggie said, his voice wavering. “I’ve never wanted anything as badly as I want him.”

“I can take him home.”

“Have you been drinking?”

“Not in the last couple hours.”

“Okay.”

“I love you, man,” Moose said, and waited for Reggie to say something back. When he didn’t, Moose trudged up the stairs and told Kevin that he could get his clothes the following day, and that Reggie was already passed out in the basement. Reggie closed his eyes and curled himself up into a tighter ball.

Upstairs, Kevin looked at Moose skeptically, but he nodded his head, his eyes on the door that led to the basement. Moose put a big hand on his shoulder to guide him out of the house and got into his car to start the drive to the Keller residence.

“I think it would be a good idea for you to stay away from Reggie for a while,” Moose said, breaking their silence halfway through the drive.

“He’s my friend,” Kevin said defiantly, turning his head to look at Moose, his brows knit. “We’re friends, Moose.”

“He’s your friend. You’re something else to him, and you know it. And I don’t know why you keep fueling it.”

“Do you think I wanted to get pushed into the pool tonight?”

“You could’ve done anything else, man, and you went up to _his_ room, and you put on _his_ clothes.”

“He offered,” Kevin said, his voice getting softer as the realization washed over him.

“I know Reggie like the back of my hand,” Moose said, his voice steady, and his eyes on the road. “I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. I’ve never seen him treat anyone as well as he treats you.” Kevin didn’t say anything for the remainder of the drive. Moose pulled up beside his house and put the car in park, rubbing his hands over his face and into his hair.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Any time.” Kevin unlocked his door and started to climb out, and Moose reached over to grab his hand. “Kevin, whatever you decide to do, don’t hurt him. Please. Too many people have.”

Kevin forced a small smile and he nodded his head. Moose let go and Kevin got out of the car and watched as he drove away. He wringed his hand with his other hand. Moose always forgot how strong his grip was.

He entered his house and went straight to his room to change, doing a double take as he walked by the mirror, alarmed. He had totally forgotten he was wearing Reggie’s clothes.

He ran his hands over the front of the letterman jacket and curled his fingers over the cuffs before shrugging it off. He used a hanger and hung it on the back of his door, staring at it. 

His phone buzzed.

It was Fangs.

He let it go to voicemail and climbed into bed, warm in his borrowed sweatpants.


	12. Chapter 12

Reggie went to Pop’s with Kevin’s clothes under his arm.

His sunglasses were crooked on his face, his brows were furrowed, and his head was pounding. He slid into the booth beside Veronica and grunted.

“Good morning, Reginald,” she said, chipper, and he grunted again and tossed Kevin his clothes, who was seated across from him.

“I didn’t bring your stuff,” Kevin said as he stuffed his clothes in his bag, and Reggie shrugged his shoulders before going through the menu, even though he already knew what he wanted. When he finally closed and dropped the menu, there was a cake in front of him, and it was fucking _beautiful_ , white with gold accents, and eighteen candles lit up.

“Really?” he asked, taking off his sunglasses, and he couldn’t even mask the glee on his face. “You guys.”

“Kevin made it,” Archie said, smiling and gesturing to Kevin, who shook his head and flushed.

“Betty helped,” he said.

“I made the icing. Kevin did everything else,” Betty said, rolling her eyes.

“Happy birthday,” Kevin said, kicking Reggie’s foot lightly under the table, and Reggie tried to hide his smile behind his hands as he propped his elbows up on the table, then he leaned over and blew his candles out.

-

Kevin broke up with Fangs.

Reggie didn’t find out about it until the first day of school, and only because he saw Fangs walk right by him and Kevin by their lockers without saying a word.

“You guys fight or something?” Reggie asked as he shrugged his backpack off, and Kevin looked at him, cocking an eyebrow.

“No. I mean, I guess. We broke up,” he said, closing his locker, and Reggie stared at him.

“What? When? Dude.”

“A couple weeks ago,” Kevin replied, lifting and dropping his shoulders. “Not a big deal. Coming to homeroom, or are you gonna sit there with your jaw on the floor all day?” He gave Reggie a light push and started down the hallway. Reggie stuffed his things in his locker and followed, his heart pounding, his mind racing.

He stared at the back of Kevin’s head as their teacher did role call and assigned the new students in the class their lockers. He leaned forward slightly and tapped Kevin on the shoulder.

“What’s your schedule?” 

Kevin slapped his down in front of Reggie and rifled through his pencil case, taking out a blue highlighter. “You’re blue, Ronnie is yellow, Betty is pink, Archie is purple, Jughead is green, Josie is –“

“Jesus,” Reggie grumbled, digging through his pockets until he found his schedule, crumpled up. He smoothed it out and went to put a check mark next to History.

“Wait, do like, a shape, or something,” Kevin said, and Reggie furrowed his brows.

“For fucks sake, Kevin.”

“Humor me.”

Reggie rolled his eyes and made little blue stars on each class he had with Kevin – History, English, and Phys Ed. He handed the highlighter and schedule back to Kevin and tapped him on the shoulder again.

“You still have my jacket,” he said with a small frown, and Kevin turned to look at him.

“You don’t even need it yet, you’re still injured,” he said, making a face and nodding at Reggie’s still-sprained hand.

“Whose fault is that?” Reggie asked, making a face right back at him.

“I didn’t make you punch him.”

“Give me my jacket back, man.”

“Come over and get it, then.”

They stared at each other, Kevin, certain and sure, and Reggie, the exact opposite.

“Okay,” he said, “after school.”

“I miss when you ignored each other’s existence,” Moose said at the desk beside Reggie’s, watching the two of them with fascination, his chin propped up on his hand. Reggie repeated what he said mockingly before reaching over and smacking Moose’s arm out from under his chin.

-

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Reggie slept through History class and copied Kevin’s notes during lunch before going to the back of the cafeteria, where the football team sat. He declined plans to go to Pop’s for burgers and fries after school, and he met Kevin out by his car in the school parking lot.

“How’s your hand, anyway?” Kevin asked as he climbed into the passenger’s seat, and Reggie flexed his hand and rotated his wrist.

“It’s getting better. My dad’s pissed at me, though.”

“Ah, well, you gotta stop punching people.”

“People need to stop pissing me off, more like.” Reggie could see Kevin smile in his peripherals, and he smiled, too. The drive to Kevin’s place was quiet, but not tense, not uncomfortable like some had been in the past. Just quiet; contemplative, perhaps.

Reggie contemplated holding Kevin’s hand that was curled around his knee cap. He contemplated leaning over the middle to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, even though his head was turned to look out the window. He contemplated asking why he and Fangs had broken up.

He did none of those things, though, and kept his eyes on the road ahead of him until he pulled over and parked outside Kevin’s place.

“Do you wanna come in for a bit? I know where your jacket is, I just gotta find your sweats,” Kevin said as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Uh, sure,” Reggie said, doing the same and getting out of the car. He made note that the Sheriff’s car was parked in the garage, and he halted. “Um, are you sure?”

“Are you scared of my dad?” Kevin asked, laughing. “You can wait out here, if you want, but I gotta tell you. It looks _way_ more suspicious.”

That was all Reggie needed to follow Kevin into the house. He stuck his hands in his pockets and hovered by the door before Kevin turned around and rolled his eyes, motioning him to keep following. Reggie shrugged his shoulders and did as he was told, stepping through the house. He passed the kitchen and Sheriff Keller eyed him from over the top of his newspaper.

“Reggie Mantle,” he said, cocking an eyebrow, the newspaper slowly lowering, “what are you doing in my house?”

“I, um. I’m just, uh.”

“I borrowed something from him and he’s just getting it back, dad. Chill!” Kevin called down the stairs. Reggie gave the Sheriff the best innocent smile he could muster. It felt foreign on his face, honestly.

“In and out, sir,” he promised before hurrying up the stairs. He pushed Kevin’s bedroom door open and leaned against the door frame, his hands back in his pockets. He hadn’t been over since the night everyone had caught them post-sex session. Everything looked the same, except there was a new picture on his dresser.

He reached over and picked it up in its frame.

“Who took this?” he asked, brushing his thumb over the picture, a small smile showing on his face. Kevin looked over at him from the closet and when Reggie lifted his head up, he saw Kevin blushing.

“Um, Jughead.” And he resumed going through his clothes for Reggie’s sweatpants.

It was a picture from the cabin of Reggie, asleep while sitting up on the couch, his arms crossed over his chest as Kevin lay asleep with his head on his lap.

“I don’t remember this,” Reggie said, putting it back on the dresser.

“I don’t either. Probably the night we thought it was a good idea to shotgun a beer every thirty minutes.” Kevin walked over to Reggie and pressed the folded pair of sweats to his chest, then took his jacket off the hanger behind the door and handed it off to him. They stood toe to toe and Kevin tilted his head up, ever so slightly, to look up at Reggie. “Thank you. For that night, you know? Standing up for me. Taking care of me.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. Kevin waited for Reggie to say something else before he nodded and stepped away.

“Okay, well. Okay. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Reggie agreed and bade him goodbye before turning around and heading back down the hallway. He went down two steps before stopping himself, and he retraced his steps back to Kevin’s room, knocking lightly on the door. Kevin looked up from unpacking his bag, an eyebrow raised curiously.

“Do you… wanna see a movie some time?”

“With who?”

“With me.”

“Just you?”

“Just me.” Reggie felt like his heart was going to pound right out of his chest as he waited for Kevin’s answer.

“Is this a date, Reggie?” he asked softly, standing upright as his demeanor changed.

“I want it to be,” Reggie replied. When Kevin didn’t say anything, Reggie draped his clothes over the back of his study chair and stepped further into the room. “Kevin, I’m trying here.”

“I know, and I see it,” Kevin said, sitting down on the bed. “Believe me, I see it, I see you. But if you’re asking me out on a date, Reg, you have to understand. I won’t get back in the closet with you. If we’re going on dates, I want people to see we’re going on dates. I can’t be your secret. And if you aren’t ready for that, then you aren’t ready for me.”  
Reggie stepped on one foot, then the other, adjusting his weight accordingly, suddenly nervous and unsure.

“What if it’s just – what if we just saw a movie as a _trial_?”

“A trial?” Kevin repeated, cocking an eyebrow and standing up again. “A trial for what? If it’s well received, you’ll be fine being seen with me, but if not, then nothing?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Reggie said, beginning to panic, feeling his hands get clammy.

“I’m sorry,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Reggie’s stomach sank and he swallowed thickly.

“Why did you invite me here?” he asked, his voice strained. “Why did you want me to come over, to come up here?”

“To give you your things,” Kevin said without missing a beat.

“You could’ve just brought them to school.”

“I forgot,” Kevin said. “Reggie, calm down. I just wanted to give you your jacket.”

“You know what’s fucked up?” Reggie asked, struggling to keep his voice down. “I’ve told you how I feel about you. I’ve confessed shit to you. I haven’t heard or seen anything from you. So what’s up, Keller? For once, I’m looking for something more. For once, I _want_ something more. Am I more than a fuck to you or am I wasting my time here?” When Kevin didn’t say anything, Reggie shook his head, moving away from him. “Duly noted.” He waved at Sheriff Keller as he left and shut the door behind him, taking big strides to his car before speeding away.

Kevin’s dad knocked lightly on his door and opened it.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, and Kevin just huffed out a sigh and flopped back onto his bed, eyeing the letterman jacket Reggie had left in his rush.

-

“I’m so confused,” Archie said, squinting his eyes as he observed Reggie and Kevin at their lockers, backs turned to each other, Kevin heading to class and Reggie taking the long way around to the same class.

“What do you think happened?” Veronica asked, furrowing her brows as she leaned back against Archie’s chest.

-

“Did Reggie just turn down copying Kevin’s notes?” Jughead whispered to Betty in the cafeteria as Kevin started walking back towards their table, his notes still in his hand.

“Oh, my God,” Betty said, hand on her chest.

-

“What do you mean you’re not going to the game tonight?” Veronica asked Kevin as he French braided her hair in the student lounge.

“I mean that I’m not going,” Kevin said, cocking an eyebrow. “Me, Kevin Keller, not going to football game. Not a hard concept to grasp.”

“Okay, no need to fucking sass me.”

-

“What did you do, Reggie?”

Despite not playing due to his hand, Reggie had showered and was towel drying his hair after their win as his teammates filtered in and out of the locker room. Moose stood with his shoulder leant against the lockers, arms crossed over his chest, looking Reggie dead in the eyes.

“What do you mean?” Reggie asked, pulling up his underwear and jeans, looking right back at him.

“You know what I mean. You and Kevin haven’t spoken all week and he’s been all moody and shit.”

“What makes you think it’s my fault?” Reggie cocked an eyebrow, keeping himself calm. Of course everybody thought it was his fault; Kevin could do absolutely no wrong. Kevin was always a victim. Poor Kevin.

“Will you just tell me what happened?” Moose asked, exasperated, and Reggie sniffled and finished changing, locking his locker up. He pulled his bag up over his shoulder and looked around before speaking.

“Look, I asked him out and he said it wasn’t a good idea. If he’s feeling shitty about it, it’s his own fault, but he’s made it pretty crystal clear that whatever I thought we had was purely physical to him. Fuck you for assuming I _did something_.” He gave Moose’s shoulder a hard shove before starting for the door. I’m gonna go get laid tonight. You coming?”

“No, I got something to do,” Moose said, shaking his head and waving Reggie away.

-

“What did you do, Kevin?”

Moose stood outside the Keller house, the same look in his eye that he gave Reggie, his arms crossed over his chest. Kevin opened his mouth, then he closed it and sighed and took a step back for Moose to come in.

“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” he asked, heading for the kitchen, and Moose followed him around.

“He’s been going to Fox Forest since you two stopped… whatever it was you were doing, you know? Few times a week, maybe more.”

“So what? He can do whatever he wants,” Kevin said, getting a glass from the cabinet and pouring a glass of water, handing it to Moose. “What do you want me to say, Moose? You told me I should stay away from him. Aren’t you happy?”

“That was when you were still with Fangs. I never thought you’d break up with him and Reggie’d grow the balls to actually ask you out.”

“How long do you think Reggie would keep me a secret for?” Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow. “How long before I get to meet his parents, his grandparents, his aunts, uncles, before he introduces me as his boyfriend?”

“Kevin, not everyone has it as easy as you,” Moose said, furrowing his eyebrows. “Are you kidding me? The world would be a better place if everyone was like your dad. I wish to hell Reggie’s dad was like your dad. But he’s not, he’s cold, he’s business, he’s unattached, he holds Reggie to impossibly high standards. You think Reggie’s a dick just because he’s a dick?”

“I’m not getting back in the closet, Moose.”

“Then you’re selfish jerk, Kevin. Recognize your privilege. Just because you can be you without anyone batting an eyelash doesn’t mean Reggie can, but at least he can be himself with you. I know he’s more than a fuck to you. Maybe you’re scared to get in a relationship with someone that publicly identifies as straight, but think about how scared that makes him. And how much it took for him to ask you out on a fucking _date_. Reggie Mantle fucking loves you, dude. He doesn’t even say it platonically. He doesn’t even say it to his own parents.”

Kevin’s face fell and he turned away from Moose to do the dishes, scrubbing harder than he needed to.

“You’ve opened up his eyes to your world, and he likes what he’s seeing. You baked him a birthday cake, and you have to understand. His parents have never even packed him lunch. He couldn’t stop talking about your fucking cake. That was really big,” Moose said softly, and he put his empty glass down beside the sink. “He’s scared about losing scholarships, respect, and whatever relationship he’s got with his parents. What are you scared about?” 

Moose was right. Kevin had nothing to worry about if he put all his eggs in Reggie’s basket. He just didn’t want to date the wrong guy again, put work into a relationship that wouldn’t work out. But Reggie was different from the other boys Kevin had dated. He was an actual friend with his other friends. He had been filtering in and out of Kevin’s life since they were kids. He was complex and layered and Kevin really had enjoyed peeling back every layer to see what surprises Reggie had waiting for him.

Kevin got butterflies around Reggie in a way he never got around Fangs or Joaquin. Kevin looked forward to seeing him every day, even if for the last week, they had been fleeting glances.

Reggie had made himself so vulnerable to Kevin, and Kevin was trying to keep him away, and with Moose speaking, he had no idea why.

“He’s my best friend, Kevin. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him.” Moose put a hand on Kevin’s shoulder and squeezed gently before turning around and leaving.

-

It would’ve been easier if Reggie had given him the time of day, but he supposed that the damage was done and he had some work to do. Reggie was out of control, flirting with all the girls all over again, and, according to Moose, the boys at Fox Forest were pretty happy with Reggie, too.

Mantle the Magnificent was back, and Kevin fucking hated it.

“He was like, really close to being a decent human being, you know?” Betty commented as the five of them watched Reggie dunk a freshman’s face in his soup in the cafeteria. They all made a face and tilted their heads to the side.

“What was the soup today?” Kevin asked.

“Clam chowder,” Jughead replied.

“Ugh.”

-

Reggie snuck out of bed with the older man from Greendale he had ended up going home with that night. He put his clothes on and quietly toed into his shoes before leaving. He walked an hour to get back to the club to get into his car and started the drive back to Riverdale, drinking the bottle of iced coffee he had left for himself.

Kevin Keller wasn’t his end game. 

Reggie could move on from him. He _was_ moving on from him.

He parked in the school lot and finished the coffee before getting his clothes from the back and headed for the locker room to wash the sweat, sex, and alcohol off before class started.

When he got to his locker, Kevin was waiting for him, and he let out a quiet sigh through his nose as he walked up.

“What’s up?” he asked, getting his locker open and stuffing his clothes in.

“Did you know you hooked up with a cam guy last night?” Kevin asked in a low voice, and Reggie froze, his History textbook falling out of his locker.

“What?”

“Look, sometimes I get off on watching live recordings, cam guys, you know, whatever. I follow this silver fox from Greendale, would _never_ hook up with him, though, and –“

“Is it online?” Reggie demanded, and Kevin sighed and took his phone out, making sure the volume was off. He turned his phone towards Reggie and, while his face was cut off from the screen, it was definitely his encounter with the man the previous night, and he could definitely tell it was himself fucking into him.

“You need to be more careful,” Kevin said, taking his phone back and gently touching Reggie’s hand. “If you’re going to be doing this, you need to be more careful.”

“How do I get him to take it down?” 

“Do you have his number?”

“Fuck no.”

Kevin sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. We can message him, or something.” The bell rang for class. Reggie collected his History binder and the textbook from the ground before following Kevin to class as the other tapped away on his phone. He continued texting until their teacher showed up, and he slid his phone onto Reggie’s desk, showing his conversation with the cam guy.

“I told him you were underaged and that I’d take it up with the cops if he didn’t take it down.”

“Kevin. Thank you,” he said, sliding the phone back to him. Kevin smiled and nodded his head before taking his phone back. Reggie was quiet for a few minutes, listening to the lecture before leaning forward again. “So did you get off last night?”

“Not the time or the place for this, Reggie.”

“My bad.”

-

Kevin had it figured out, honestly – if he made Reggie laugh, if he made Reggie converse with him in any way, they were good. And they were good after Kevin got his video deleted, after their exchange in History class.

Reggie started to study with him because their study sessions had worked the previous year and he wanted to keep his grades up to secure a spot with one of the colleges that were looking into him. Kevin didn’t ask why he didn’t want to study with someone else. He was enjoying the time with Reggie that he was given.

Reggie was a hard worker, and it was even more evident this time around, with his earbuds plugged in, his brows furrowed, and three different highlighters in front of him. Last year, Reggie probably wouldn’t have even had a pencil. Kevin had noticed that he was no longer being bullied or harassed anymore, either, and definitely had Reggie’s birthday to thank for that.

Reggie looked up at him after writing a page full of notes on the Third Reich and Kevin realized he had been staring at him for a while, his ears turning pink. Reggie just smiled and diverted his eyes back down to his notes, turning the page for the article he was reading.

-

It was hard for Reggie to be around Kevin.

He sucked up his pride and all the hurt he had felt in order to ask him for help with his classes, because he knew if he asked anyone else, he wouldn’t pay attention, or would try to sleep with them, or would otherwise just not show up. But he liked it when he made Kevin proud. He liked watching Kevin’s face light up whenever he would bring back a good mark on an assignment or test. He relished in the hug, or the high five, or the squeeze on the shoulder he’d get for doing a good job. And if he kept his grades up for scholarships while making Kevin smile, then that was just the best. 

Reggie felt good about that.

-

Reggie’s hand healed and he was cleared to play the rest of the season by his doctor, and the team’s doctor. Reggie was antsy. He needed football. He needed the physicality of it, he needed to get hit, he needed to hear people cheering for him. He needed to see Kevin in the stands, cheering for him.

“It’s your first game back. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t go well,” his dad said as Reggie passed by him in the house, and Reggie rolled his eyes.

“Can’t you just be happy that I’m healthy and back on the roster?”

When his dad didn’t say anything, Reggie left with the burning desire to _be the best_.

Bulldogs were down by 5. Fourth down. Fifteen seconds left in the game.

Reggie Mantle fired a Hail Mary down to the end zone, caught by Archie Andrews.

_Bulldogs Win._

In the stands, Kevin Keller cheered for Reggie Mantle.

-

Kevin waiting by their lockers again the following day and he handed Reggie his sweatpants that he had forgotten to bring, and Reggie looked down at them.

“You still have my jacket,” he said, amused as he put the pants in his locker, and Kevin grinned.

“Yeah, but how would I have looked holding your letterman jacket?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, and Reggie raised one back and nodded his head.

“Good point.”

“How did your Bio test go?” Kevin asked as they walked to homeroom together, and Reggie nodded again, shrugging a shoulder.

“It went okay. I could do better. The game distracted me, I think.”

“Do you wanna come over tonight?” Kevin asked, and Reggie faltered, falling back a few paces before starting to walk again.

“Uh.”

“To study,” Kevin added, “and, you know. You can pick up your jacket?”

“Okay,” Reggie said, because he was weak as hell.

They drove their separate cars back to Kevin’s house and walked in to Sheriff Keller and Sierra McCoy having an early dinner together.

“Hey dad, hey Sierra. We’re studying,” Kevin said with a wave of his hand, heading straight up the stairs to his room, and Reggie paused to take his shoes off and gave a little feeble wave.

“Hi.”

And then he hurried up after Kevin.

“Remember when I fessed up to dealing jingle jangle? Those are the two worst people for me to be in a room with,” he hissed, and Kevin burst out laughing as he took his books out.

“Honestly, I forgot about that. The fuck were you dealing jingle jangle for at 16 years old, man?”

Kevin set himself up on the bed and Reggie took his study desk, his letterman jacket hanging on the back of the door so he wouldn’t forget it this time. They studied in silence, only speaking when Reggie turned around to ask Kevin a question, and then he’d make a note and turn back, scratching away at his paper with his pencil.

Kevin stared at the back of Reggie’s head, his own workbook blank in front of him. He wondered what Reggie would do if he tried to kiss him. If he tried to get him to spend the night, even if they didn’t fuck. Kevin just missed sleeping beside him. He missed curling up and backing himself against Reggie’s warmth, he missed being tucked up against his chest.

“I think I need help with this one,” Reggie said, breaking Kevin’s reverie. He cleared his throat and sat down on the edge of Kevin’s bed, then he looked over at Kevin’s blank papers, and then up at his face. “You haven’t done anything yet.”

“Uh, no.”

“Everything okay?” Reggie asked. “What’ve you been working on?”

“I don’t know. Nothing. I’m not feeling very well,” Kevin lied, closing his Bio book. He froze as Reggie placed a hand to his forehead, then curled it around his throat, a load of flashbacks flooding his brain to other instances where Reggie had his hand around his throat.

“You’re not feverish,” Reggie said, clicking his tongue and pulling back. “What’s wrong?”

“I feel it coming on, though, maybe.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and Reggie bit his bottom lip.

“Do you… want me to leave? Was this a bad idea?” he asked, and Kevin’s eyes widened for a moment.

“Reggie, no. I’m just – feeling under the weather tonight.” Reggie nodded his head and stood up, collecting his things.

“Maybe we can pick this up another time. It’s due by next Wednesday, so, let me know when you’re feeling better.” Kevin smiled and watched Reggie go. He let a bit pass before he sighed and got up, rushing down the stairs. He stopped Reggie at the door and pressed a warm kiss to his cheek, watching his facial expression change to poorly masked shock.

“I’ll see you at school,” Kevin said, giving him a small smile. Reggie smiled back and nodded before closing the door behind him. When Kevin returned to his room and closed the door, the letterman jacket still hung at the back of it.

-

Reggie picked Kevin up from his house the next day. Kevin reached over and took Reggie’s hand off the steering wheel and intertwined their fingers together. Reggie didn’t say anything, just parted his fingers further for Kevin’s hand to settle on top of his, and when they got out of Reggie’s car together to meet up with Jughead, Betty, Archie, and Veronica at Pop’s after school that day, they didn’t acknowledge anything being odd, though the four of them shared cheeky smiles as they ate their food and drank their shakes.  
Reggie got a burger and fries, which he would never order, because all Kevin got was a milkshake and he knew Kevin liked to dip fries in his milkshake.

Reggie went in for a kiss outside of Kevin’s house at the end of the night. Kevin turned his head to give Reggie his cheek and kissed his back in return before walking in and closing the door, looking at Reggie over his shoulder the whole time.

-

Halloween passed. Kevin got drunk and ground himself back against Reggie in the bathroom, his arms thrown back over his shoulders, fingers curled in Reggie’s hair. Reggie came in his pants. Kevin apologized profusely before throwing up on him.

Reggie was still into him, even though he was the most terrible person ever in the world.

-

“He’s punishing me,” Reggie decided, laying on his back in the grass with Moose and Midge. “He won’t kiss me. He won’t fuck me. He’ll just hold my hand and talk about, like, Science.”

“Maybe he’s just waiting it out,” Moose said, shrugging his shoulders. “At least you know he’s not using you for sex.”

“I wish he was using me for sex. Cuz then I’d be having sex.”

“You got pissy the last time you thought he was using you for sex,” Midge said with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m complicated,” Reggie retorted, throwing blades of grass in her general direction.

“Biggest game of the season tomorrow and you’re thinking about Kevin Keller. You’ve changed, man.” Moose smiled and laid down next to Reggie, smacking his leg with his big hand. “It’s not a bad thing.”

-

The Bulldogs ran out onto the field as the Vixens cheered and did flips and high kicks around them. Reggie flashed some of them a smile as he ran out with his helmet off, and he slicked his hair back as he eyed around the stadium, looking for the scouts with their notebooks and cameras. He spotted a handful of them before coming up to the group huddle, his arm draping around Archie’s shoulders on one side and Moose on the other.

“This is it, Bulldogs. Championship game!” he shouted amongst the cheers and roar of the crowd and the horns and drums of their marching band. “Seniors – I know, man, it’s gonna be hard to focus when we know some of our futures are riding on this game. But I’ve got faith in us. We’ve got a fucking killer team, boys!” The guys started shouting and whooping and pumping each other up. “So let’s do what we do best and win this fucking thing. Play a sick game, have fun doing it. One, two, three, BULLDOGS!” 

-

Reggie and Archie were both hoisted in the air by the team, each of them holding one side of the trophy, their free hands curled into fists as they cheered and cried and shouted out loud.

“Holy shit, Red. We did it,” Reggie said, letting go of the trophy, and he reached over for Archie and grabbed him in a hug, almost taking the entire team down with them as they wobbled around to regain balance.

“If you don’t get a scholarship to any of those colleges that were looking into you, I’ll be so fucking surprised,” Archie said, clapping the side of Reggie’s face, their foreheads pressed together. Reggie cracked a smile and finally let him go before wriggling out of his team’s grasp to touch back onto the ground, watching as the trophy got passed around. He turned around to see Kevin standing at the sidelines, wearing his oversized letterman jacket, hands dug in the pockets, and his heart swelled.

“Kev,” he said, holding his hand out for him, and Kevin took a step forward, his hands coming out of the pockets.

“Quite a game, Mantle,” Kevin said with a smile, and he eyed his hand before looking around. Reggie shook his head and closed the space between them, taking his hand.

“You’re wearing my jacket,” he said, able to hear his pounding heart in his ears, his eyes scanning Kevin’s face.

“You kept leaving it at my house. I figured you wanted me to use it at some point,” Kevin joked, and then he gasped quietly when Reggie pulled him closer and kissed him on the lips, his hands coming up to frame Kevin’s face.

Reggie shut his eyes tight as his mouth moved with Kevin’s, warmth flooding him immediately, remembering what it was like to kiss him. Kevin kissed him back, his arms wrapping around Reggie’s middle, pulling him closer before they broke the kiss. Reggie pressed his forehead against Kevin’s and laced their fingers together.

“I’m ready. I’m fucking ready. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m ready,” he said, and Kevin watched, nodding his head, as Reggie started spiraling into hysteria, wide-eyed and in shock of himself.

“Okay, just take a deep breath,” he said, kissing the top of Reggie’s hand and dropping it to cup his face in his hands.

“Excuse me, Reginald Mantle? Sorry to interrupt,” a man said. Reggie looked and swallowed thickly. The guy was wearing an Oregon State hat. Reggie brought his hand up to shake his hand and nodded his head.

“That’s alright, good to meet you, sir.”

“I’ve been doing this for a while now, you know. And nothing is for certain yet, but I know good football when I see it, and I know it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a quarterback with your speed, smarts, and power. We’d love to have you.” He handed out his card to Reggie, who took it with a shaking hand. “And we do have a strong LGBTQ community at OSU, as well as a cultural and diversity program. In case you wanted to know.” The scout gave Reggie a wink and shook Kevin’s hand before turning around to leave.

Kevin stared at Reggie, who was staring at the card, and then lifted his gaze to look back at Kevin.

“Holy shit,” he whispered, and Kevin laughed, throwing his arms around him and hugging him tightly.

-

Reggie picked Kevin up from his place and drove him to school. They entered the building together, shoved their things in their lockers together, and on their way to homeroom, Reggie draped his arm around Kevin’s shoulder, and Kevin smiled and leaned into him, Reggie’s oversized letterman jacket keeping him nice and cozy.


End file.
